Love Between Land and Sea
by Red Serpentine
Summary: [AU] Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another. Full summary and Pairings within.
1. I: Silence Before the Storm

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another. Would she also be able to overcome the ultimatum placed on her by Orochimaru, or face the consequences of failure?

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter I **– Silence Before the Storm

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"We definitely hit the jackpot, Sakura-chan," a loud and rather obnoxious voice sounded. The features of the one who spoke greatly matched his voice. It was as if someone else possessed that very voice, it would seem wrong. "Those two-legged on the surface are probably kicking themselves for loosing such a grand ship," he laughed noisily, swishing his blue scale covered tail through the water, as if trying to mock someone. The female whom received his comments giggled light-heartedly.

Unlike him, who had spiked blonde hair, his female companion, Sakura, sported short pink hair. Though her sisters, and many other females, kept their hair long, it seemed Sakura was the only one who liked it short.

"Let's check inside it, Naruto-kun. Maybe we'll find more two-legged artifacts!" Sakura responded excitedly.

Naruto nodded excessively. He then took off through one of the broken windows of the ship. "Don't fall behind, Sakura-chan!" he called back.

Her emerald eyes narrowed and her smile fell off her face. "Come back here, you idiot!" she yelled as she jetted, catching up with him as fast as her fin would take her. "I'll only hit you five times this time. Promise!"

Sakura's last statement only provided with Naruto another reason to swim faster. Before he knew it, his panic led him to a wrong turn and a dead end, but what he saw in the dead end room widened his eyes. Even when Sakura caught up with him, he kept his eyes glued to the site in front of him

"Finally! I hope you've enjoyed your—" she stopped in middle sentence when she, too, saw what had Naruto ensnared.

It was a life size marble statue carved to perfection. It was of a two-legged.

Obvious to the two, the two-legged depicted was male and had to be wealthy to have had the money to pay for the expert craftsmanship done on this marble.

Sakura could not take her eyes off him. His eyes were blank and face emotionless. Even though she knew she had no reason, she blushed under the gaze she felt from it. Deep inside her mind she pictured the model for the statue. Tall, beautifully groomed hair, deep voice, peachy skin, relaxed face and warm eyes. It was then that she felt a feeling inside her that she never felt before; one she could not place.

"Uchiha."

Sakura broke out of the trance. "What?"

Naruto shook his head and swam closer to the statue. "Uchiha," he repeated, pointing down to an engraved plate. "Uchiha, Sasuke."

"Sasuke…" Sakura let the name slip off her tongue. '_Sasuke…Sasuke…Sasuke,_' she played the name countless times through her mind, feeling more and more of that emotion she could not place each time she thought it.

"Wonder what this was for?" Naruto once again broke Sakura from her reverie again with his voice.

"Hm?" Sakura looked over to what Naruto had been holding. As he handed the object over to her, she inspected it more closely. It was some sort of clothing, she was sure. The brown color of it was not very flattering and she could not figure out what the purpose of the string was that zigzagged through the holes in it. The object had an opening at the top and then curved almost into the shape of a horn. Then it hit her.

"A hat, or crown perhaps," she stated obviously, a boastful tone was evident in her voice. To emphasize her point more, she placed the object on her head.

"I don't know, are you sure that's what it is?" Naruto asked skeptically.

Sakura shrugged. "What else could it be?"

The blonde could only nod in agreement. "There's nothing else here, let's check the deck, maybe something floated up there?" Before she could answer, Naruto was already out of the room.

Before she followed, she went up to the statue and placed a small kiss on his cold marble cheek. "Good-bye." And with that, she too, left the room.

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"Naruto-kun?" Sakura called out when she reached the deck. At first, she did not spot him. "Naru—"

A violent current of water crashed against her body, sending her with it until she lost confusion and began fighting against it. It was then she heard the voice of the one whom she was looking for.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as he was also fighting a losing battle against the ocean currents just to get to her. "It's probably the Sea Witch's doing. That damn bastard," he growled as he grabbed onto Sakura's hand. "C'mon, we'd better get back before Orochimaru makes it any worse."

Sakura silently agreed as they both started swishing their tails in sync, now moving stronger against the opposing surge.

As Sakura could have predicted, as the tried getting home, the tide only seemed to become stronger. If it was violent down here, it had to be worse tenfold up on the surface and that meant another ship to adventure for the morning, Sakura decided.

It was now dark and Sakura was getting the feeling that they would never get home. She wondered if Naruto knew even where he was going. But she shook her head of the thought. To her, Naruto was very dense, but he could not be that dense. Could he?

"Ahh…" Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

That was when Sakura saw it; the large white spike that rose from the ocean palace. "Good work, Naruto-kun," she said sadly while she mentally chided herself for ever doubting Naruto.

After Naruto escorted her to the palace gates Sakura turned around to face him. "Naruto-kun," she started. Now she knew she had his attention when she watched his blue eyes meet with her green ones. "I wanted to thank you for accompanying me here, and for coming with me to the sunken ship," she told him gently.

"Don't worry about it, Sakura. We're friends. You don't have to thank me for my actions," Naruto responded while smiling.

"Of course," Sakura reasoned. "I'll see you tomorrow; when the tides have calmed down, okay?"

The blue-finned boy nodded before he disappeared into the darkness of the water around them.

Sighing, she sneaked through gates and continued through the palace corridors. She could not afford to be caught coming in at this time of night with such conditions outside. When she finally reached the room she shared with her sisters, she snickered; she made it to her room without being caught which meant no trouble for her.

She slowly pushed against the door with her hands and body to close it. "Now I can rest," she said to herself silently. Before she could turn around, a voice sounded.

"My, my, my… and just where have you been, Sakura?"

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**Author's Note**: I know, I know. Very boring. Believe me, if I could have made this chapter more interesting, I would have. I am horrible with introduction chapters like this. Anyway, this is my first fic, but by all means review what you really think of it. Flames and constructed criticism is welcomed. So please review. I hope to get the next chapter underway soon.


	2. II: Sneaking to the Surface

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter II**: Sneaking to the Surface

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"_My, my, my… and just where have you been, Sakura?"_ a voice sounded from behind the pink-haired mermaid.

Sakura quickly whipped her body around and came face to face with her eldest sister, Anko. This was when Sakura knew she was in trouble.

"I was just…well…you know…in my garden!" she blurted out before she realized it. She smiled on the inside at her quick recovery. "Yes, I was in my garden. Seems I fell asleep there for a bit, just woke up, you know."

Anko narrowed her brown eyes. "Cut the bullshit, Sakura. Your story would be all well and fine _if _Hinata didn't search all through your garden for you," Anko hissed through clenched teeth.

Sakura's inside smile then faltered. '_Shit,_' she thought. '_Now how am I gonna get out of this?_' She was now panicking and she hoped Anko did not notice it. "Y-yeah…? Maybe she didn't look… hard enough?" she was not even trying to cover up anymore. Anko knew and she was in trouble; that was the bottom line.

Anko laughed bitterly. "Obviously the youngest. Sometimes I wonder when you'll grow up, Sakura," the eldest snapped, practically in anger.

"You shouldn't be so hard on her, Anko," another voice interjected. This time the voice came from one of the beds near the back of the large room.

Sakura, under normal circumstances, would have cringed at the voice, but to her, the voice was her savior. It was the second oldest sister of the family, Temari.

Like Sakura and Anko's relationship, Sakura and Temari's relationship was also strained. The blonde-haired mermaid and the pink-haired one rarely agreed on anything and often found themselves in verbal fights. While Anko would call Sakura immature, Temari would tell Sakura that she would never receive her Coming of Age, and often criticized her love for two-leggers and their "junk", in Temari's words.

"Why are you backing her, Temari? You know what she did, and it deserves punishment! She's lucky we haven't told father."

Sakura's eyes widened and her heart leaped. '_They didn't tell otou-san?_' she said mentally and breathed out a sign of relief.

All that was seen was a blanket thrown in the air and before anyone of the two could blink, Temari was standing in between Anko and Sakura.

Sakura felt herself become rigid. Temari was famous for her temper, and right now, Sakura could feel the rage pulsating off her older sister. The petal-haired mermaid wished nothing more to disappear right about now, before sparks started to fly.

"I am _not_ backing her up, onee-san. I am just treating her fairly," the blonde replied darkly. "Remember when you used to sneak out past dark and see that lover of yours? Hatake, I believe?" Temari smirked. "We all covered for you and never told otou-sama. You should at least have some honor and do the same for Sakura," Temari spat. She then grunted and returned to her bed.

Anko gave one last glare to Sakura before she too swam to her bed.

Sakura was not only surprised but also relieved to figure out she had gotten away with her mischief without any trouble. '_Alright… maybe slight trouble. But at least otou-san and obaasan don't know,_' she thought. And just as Sakura was about to travel to her bed, a quiet rapping was heard on the door. '_Oh great...what now?_' Sakura inwardly groaned.

She opened the door slightly to see one of the servants. "Tsunade-sama requests your presence immediately Sakura-hime," the servant told her meekly before hurrying off.

Sakura could hear Anko's triumphant laugh behind her. "I win," was all that she heard before the young mermaid left the room.

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Nervously, Sakura gently knocked on her grandmother's door. '_I think I'm gonna throw-up…_' Her nervousness was now affecting her stomach, and that created a not too pleasant feeling.

"Come in," came the muted reply from beyond the closed door.

Sakura obeyed and opened the door hesitantly. Much to her surprise, Tsunade was wide awake and looked slightly irritated. Though Sakura's obaa-san, Tsunade, was pushing the age of two-hundred and fifty, she retained a youthful appearance. There were so many rumors made about how she managed it, one more unlikely than the last. Tsunade was also revered throughout the entire ocean for her wisdom and was especially proud of her high birth. But despite the arrogance of that, she was still viewed highly by many creatures throughout the ocean.

"You… um… wanted to see me, obaasan?" Sakura asked timidly. '_Great…I just basically gave myself away!_'

Tsunade was quiet for a few moments. "Yes."

More silence.

The atmosphere in the room was beginning to get awkward.

"What did you want to see me about?" Sakura asked carefully, making sure she did not sound too demanding or rude.

It was quiet for a few more moments.

"I know your Coming of Age is closing in, and I know you're restless… but take it easy, alright?"

'_That's it?_' She practically gaped at her grandmother.

"You must be tired. I'll let you go, good night, my little Cherry Blossom."

"Wait… Obaasan, what's a 'cherry blossom?'" Sakura was confused.

Tsunade chuckled to herself. "It's your namesake; your mother picked it out for you. A cherry blossom is a flower that grows on trees on the surface. One day, I'm sure you'll see one."

Sakura nodded and bowed in respect to her grandmother. And just as she turned to leave, her grandmother spoke once more.

"And Sakura…next time, try to be more discreet when you're sneaking into the palace after-hours."

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Sakura returned to the room she shared with her sisters with her face the shade of a red star fish. She swam silently to her bed and lay down, pulling the translucent purple blanket over her frame.

"You… didn't get into any trouble, did you, Sakura-neechan?" came a hesitant voice from the bed adjacent to hers. Sakura turned over to face the voice and her emerald eyes met pearly ones.

"No, no, Hinata-neesan. Tsunade-obaasan just wanted to talk to me about my Coming of Age."

"O-oh! I almost forgot about that… forgive me," Hinata replied, berating herself.

Sakura smiled. "Don't worry about it, I almost forgot about it, too." '_Lie,_' she told herself mentally. She could not help it, Hinata was the closest sister she had in age and emotional range, so she had to try and cheer her up. Hinata was just one year older than her. All the six daughters of the Sea King's were each separated by one year in age. The eldest being Anko, then Temari, followed by Ten Ten, Kin, Hinata, and then the youngest being Sakura.

Hinata smiled shyly. "Good night, Sakura-neechan," she uttered silently.

"'Night, Hinata-neesan."

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Sakura giggled as Naruto directed her while he had his hands over his eyes.

"Just tell me what it is already, Naruto-kun!" she squealed excitedly.

"Uh-uh! It's a surprise, Sakura-chan, and I don't want to ruin it," he stated obviously. "But I will guarantee you'll like it, I just know it!"

She wished he had not said that. She could feel minnows in her stomach, making her giggle even more.

She felt the change in water temperature around her; she could tell they were outside of the palace now.

She then felt him release his hands off her eyes. She opened her green eyes eagerly and was met with the most spectacular sight she could ever dream of. '_Sasuke…_'

Naruto had brought the statue of the young man from the sunken ship to her; to her garden.

"So do you like it?" he said hesitantly after moments of silence. Sakura could tell that he was not sure if she liked it or not. But she was about to fix his doubts.

She lunged at him and tackled him with a giant hug; one that he often gave her after not seeing her for awhile.

After recovering from shock, he returned the hug and nearly crushed her.

"Naruto-kun, thank-you so-o-o-o much! You have no clue how much this means to me!" there was that feeling again, rising within her chest. '_It can't be… can it? It can't be…love?_'

Naruto chuckled. "I knew you'd like it. But I gotta admit, you had me going there for a second. Alright, now for _payment_ for this gift…" he started evilly.

"W-what? 'Payment?'" Sakura sputtered out.

Naruto nodded. "I was thinking you could set me up with your sister, Hinata," he replied thoughtfully while rubbing his chin.

All he received was a power-induced punch to his arm from Sakura.

"Ouch! Why do you have to hit so hard?" he asked while he faked a sob and rubbed his now red arm.

"Because sometimes you're an ass," she replied.

"An ass that's gonna take you up to the surface tonight," he shot back at her.

Sakura almost thought she did not hear the blonde correctly. "What?"

Naruto forgot about the pain in his arm. "You know my uncle, Jiraiya, right? And how he's a retired captain from your father's guard? Well… I blackmailed him into sneaking us to the surface tonight!" Naruto explained animatedly.

Sakura was almost in a state of shock. "How did you manage that?"

Naruto snickered. "Easy; I caught him flittering with Anko. And I'm sure your father wouldn't be very happy to hear that, so I offered him a deal for my silence, and he accepted."

Now Sakura was even more shocked. "Ew! Your pervert of an uncle was flirting with _my_ sister. Your uncle's ancient!" Sakura yelled.

"Shhh, Sakura-chan! If someone hears you and relays the message to your father, our deal is broken. So keep quiet about this, ne?"

Sakura only nodded in reply.

"Good. Now I'll be back after nightfall. Meet me here in the garden, okay?" With that said, Naruto left her alone in the garden with the marble statue.

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It was beyond nightfall and Sakura was getting pissed. She had been waiting for Naruto since the twilight began raining through the water. Now she could barely see two feet in front of her.

"Dammit Naruto… where are you?" she questioned to herself.

This time, though, she was prepared for being discovered. This time, she let Hinata in on it. Though negative at first, Hinata agreed to cover for her absence with whatever excuse she could pop out of her head.

It was then that she heard noises around her. '_Shit… did Hinata crack?_' the thought popped into her head before she could stop it, but then she pushed it aside. '_No, Hinata would not cave, I trust her._'

"Pst, Sakura-chan! Over here!" a voice guided her out of her garden and past the castle gates.

"Naruto-kun, what took you so long?" Sakura questioned, huffed up a bit.

Naruto growled slightly in reply. "My perverted uncle wasn't prepared when I got him, he still had to find a way to sneak us past all the checkpoints to the surface," he replied, pointing behind his back to the vague form behind him.

"No matter what I do for you, you still don't show me respect, Naruto," the form said as it came into sight.

While coming into sight, Sakura took note to his features; unruly white hair, wart on the left side of his nose, and the distinct markings on his face.

'_Yep, that's Jiraiya, alright,_' Sakura concluded. She hated being around this man; she was glad she rarely saw him. '_That'll probably change when my Coming of Age comes around._' She grimaced; she did _not_ want to be around this old pervert longer than she had to. He was her grandmother's age!

Putting her anger aside for the time being, she turned to Naruto. "So how exactly are we getting up to the surface?"

Naruto opened his mouth but Jiraiya spoke first.

"Why, my little dear, using my intellect I devised the perfect plan to sneak you two up within the mouth of a whale. And if any of the guards stop me, I'll tell them I had orders from Her Excellency to check on them; to make sure they're doing their jobs. Tsunade and I go way back, and I know she would cover for me (at least I hope) if we were caught," Jiraiya clarified to the young princess.

Sakura nodded, but there was still one problem. "But what about the whale, won't it look suspicious of you to be traveling with a whale?"

This time, Naruto beat Jiraiya to the punch. "Jiraiya-ojisan has had this whale ever since he was young. The guards won't even dare to question him about it. The only reason they would have to question about the whale would be if it _wasn't_ with him," Naruto replied happily.

Even though she did not want to, Sakura had to applaud Jiraiya's plan. She smirked. "I adore your plan, Jiraiya-san."

Jiraiya smiled back at her. "Good, then you can return my favor to you by never _ever_ telling your father of my…mischief with your sister," he offered embarrassingly.

Sakura nodded her head.

"Alright, now that everything's settled…Kujira, open your mouth," Jiraiya yelled behind himself. Though no one could see, just by the shift in the water, the whale had indeed obeyed Jiraiya. "Alrighty, both you two, get in," Jiraiya told them.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other hesitantly before they swam into the whale's giant mouth.

"Keep quiet and don't make a sound," Jiraiya warned as they felt the whale begin to swim.

---------

Like they were told, Naruto and Sakura kept quiet.

Sakura was nervous, even though she practically knew they would not be caught. Still, a voice raged within her mind saying otherwise.

She was beginning to become impatient. '_Does it really take this long to reach the surface?_' she inwardly yelled. Then she remembered. '_The checkpoints…_' If Jiraiya had done it easy and just guided the whale vertically to the surface, they would have been spotted and obviously searched. Even with Jiraiya's rank he would have gotten searched. Anyone who had served on the King's guard would know that there would be no easy way to the surface without passing through the checkpoints unless they would want to be arrested.

Now she was glad that it was Jiraiya leading them to the surface and not someone else. Jiraiya knew the rules, and he knew how to get past them and bend them to his favor. That was the only thing she really liked about him.

The whale all of a sudden stopped.

"Alright, kiddies, out, out, out! Kujira let them out."

Naruto and Sakura were relieved when they were allowed to leave the whale's mouth. It was not exactly the cleanest or most flattering smelling place.

"Thanks again, Jiraiya-san," Sakura bowed slightly to him.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, good work, you pervert."

"Thank-you, Sakura-hime. And you," he said while pointing at Naruto, "will learn to respect me one of these days."

Naruto just stuck his tongue at his uncle.

"Just go straight up from here," the elder man explained. "And just so you know, I have nothing to do with this from here on in. As far as you two are concerned; you haven't seen me at all tonight, alright?" And with nothing else to be said, Jiraiya and his whale, Kujira, descended deeper into the water, until they were no longer visible.

"I'll race you to the surface, Naruto-kun!" Sakura giggled and took off vertically without giving Naruto a chance to respond.

"H-hey!" he yelled up to her as he followed her until they both broke through the water, into the slightly cold air.

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked around her. "It's so…nice up here," she said softly as she floated on her back looking up into the never-ending sky. What caught her eyes most was the moon. It was shinning a pearly white and was perfectly rounded. "It looks like the pearls on the pins my sisters have," she said quietly.

Naruto silently agreed.

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**Songstress of Victory**: **Thanks for your words of encouragement! **

**Mfpeach: lol what's strange is that I was actually thinking of inserting a little ItaSaku into the mix of things. It's one of my particularly favorite couples. **

**Babykitty2270: I try not to have cliff-hangers, cause I hate them when I read fanfics, too. I just wanted to stop it there so I could catch some attention. **

**Tikkall: I'll try not to disappoint you. I don't like it either when people write fanfics that are basically just ripped off, I like them to have at least a little originality to them.**

**Marshmellow Bunny: Oh no, that's fine! The idea's not mine to keep. I'm glad you found inspiration in my fanfic, though. Yeah, I'm trying my best to keep them in character, even though it's AU.**

**Neon kun­: Oh believe me, I will try to avoid any SasukexIno moments. She's not my favorite character, but I had to use her to fill the part. There will probably be implied stuff between them, if that at all. (Sorry people whom like Ino, I just don't like her.)**

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**Author's Note: **phew I made it as long as I could, I just didn't want to go any further, 'cause if I did, it would result in a horrible cliff-hanger.

I'm sorry if my Japanese suffixes are off, but I'm not too good in that area. I just wanted to use them so I can at least try and keep it at least semi-authentic to Japanese culture.

Anyways, as you are reading this, I am already starting on chapter 3. Reviews are loved. Hope you guys liked this chapter.


	3. III: His Savior

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter III: **His Savior

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Sakura continued staring up at the endless sky above her. The limitless white dots caught within the heavens above twinkled their light at her. It was the most amazing sight she had ever seen.

At least for a little while.

A loud boom caught both of their attention. Naruto and Sakura followed the sound with their eyes and saw large flashes of light within the air before they faded into darkness.

"Sakura-chan! A ship!" Naruto yelled excitingly, as he pointed the lit-up ship approaching them. As the two got closer, more booms were heard and more bright lights filled the sky.

To Sakura, the bright lights that were released after every explosion looked like closer versions of the dots in the sky.

"Naruto-kun, over there! An iceberg!" Sakura told Naruto as she began swimming towards it. "Come on!" she called back. "We can get a better view from there."

Naruto followed her obediently. This was not Naruto's first time to the surface; Jiraiya had brought him many times before. Only he was usually taken to the shore so his uncle could wait and watch for female two-leggers.

He watched, as he reached the ice, Sakura lunge out from the water onto a flat area of the berg. It reminded him of a dolphin jump. He followed suit and joined her in waiting for the ship to pass them. He was not entirely worried about being spotted by any two-leggers, the moon may have been out, but it was still pretty dark.

He moved his eyes to his right side and watched as Sakura was slowly being eaten at by anticipation. It was, after all, her first time to see a two-legged.

The ship finally came within range of their sight and Naruto could tell they were having some sort of party by the noise, the music, the lighting, and the number of two-leggers.

"Why do they cover themselves in such layers and colors?" Sakura questioned rhetorically.

Naruto did not know the answer either. It was common within Naruto and Sakura's culture to be nude. To them, there was no shame, and nothing to hide. But the two-leggers often wore colored garments over their entire frame. The only parts of their body that was nude was their faces and sometimes their hands.

Without warning, Naruto felt Sakura slap him on the arm.

"What was that for!" he yelped and his left hand grabbed for the place where she hit him.

"Naruto-kun! I-it's him!" she shrieked quietly to him while pointing up towards the deck of the ship.

"Who—" he started but he soon saw whom she was talking about. It was the marble sculpture; only this one was alive.

He was everything Sakura imagined him to be. '_His statue is definitely inferior to his true image,_' she snorted. '_He's so handsome._'

Just then Naruto grabbed her hand and dove off the iceberg into the water.

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"Quite a party you are having, Uchiha-sama," came the darkened voice from behind Sasuke. He then noticed the younger man was not even paying attention to him, but looking out into the ocean. "May I ask what you are doing?"

"Oh, good evening, Hyuuga. I thought I saw something over there on the iceberg, but now I think it must've been my mind," Sasuke replied, turning away from the banister, and facing his advisor. "And yes, it is a grand party. Only fitting for my birthday, don't you think?"

The Hyuuga did not answer, merely just moved his white eyes over the dark water below.

"Well, I'm not being a very good host here, am I, Hyuuga?" Sasuke smirked as he walked back in the direction of all his guests, leaving the brunette alone.

Neji kept his eyes on the darkening clouds until he saw a white light streak from above. "Hn… a storm."

----------

"Naruto-kun! Why—" she began questioning.

"He saw us!" Naruto cut her off. "If I had given him another second to contemplate what he was seeing he probably would've gone to get a harpoon!"

Sakura ignored him and started swimming back to the surface.

"Sakura-chan!" he yelled up to her but she still did not look. "Ugh… God damn it!" He then followed her.

As soon as he broke surface, he was taken down by a giant wave. "Gah! What the hell?" he said as he struggled to stay atop of the water.

There was a shift change in the weather. Moments ago, it was calm and tranquil, now there was lightning ever few seconds and loud crashing thunder, not to mention destructive waves.

Naruto looked around for Sakura; she was nowhere to be found. The only thing he could see was the ship being assaulted by the vicious waves. And then the unthinkable happened.

The waves caused the large wooden ship to crash into one of the stray icebergs dotting the area; the ship began taking on water and sinking.

"Oh shit!" he yelled as he dove into the water to escape the falling debris from the collision. There was only one person who could have caused this dramatic change in the weather, and it was the same person whom Naruto blamed all the bad weather on; Orochimaru.

----------

Sakura watched as the ship disappeared into the water, leaving many objects floating around the area.

Sakura did not think about anyone other than Sasuke as she followed the ship further into the deep. She ignored all the two-leggers fighting for their lives and trying to break for the surface; she even witnessed some stop moving. But she stopped to help none. Sasuke needed her.

It was not long before she found him, but he was just like the others; unmoving, and she feared for the worst.

She grabbed his hands and put them around her neck, and held his legs at her sides with her arms. Without a second thought to help any others around him, she bet her tail as hard as she could against the water, and broke for the surface.

After they broke for the surface, she was relieved to hear Sasuke coughing water up. It meant he was alive. She set him against a floating plank until he was done coughing.

She saw him slightly open his obsidian eyes and rest them on her jade ones. She smiled.

"It's going to be alright, Sasuke-kun," she started. "I'll keep you safe."

She was not too sure if he heard her because he closed his eyes once more. She just smiled some more and pulled him on her back again. She began swimming for the nearest coast.

----------

The sky was turning orange by the time Sakura set Sasuke down on a sandy beach, safe from any more harm the ocean could offer.

She began talking to him, just hoping he could hear her. "My Sasuke-kun, I am glad I could get to you in time. I don't know what I would have done had I not. I think… I think I am in love with you," she whispered into his ear as she ran a hand through his matted, damp hair.

She moved her head away from his ear to look at his face from above. She watched as he slightly stirred, eyes twitching, but not waking up.

She smiled and giggled quietly. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead just as the sun's first rays hit them, bathing them in warmth. She moved her hand down to her tail and pulled one of the emerald scales off, wincing at the pain. She placed the small scale into Sasuke's shirt pocket.

She was just about to talk to him more, but the sound of bells ringing brought fear into her heart. '_What's that?_' her mind screamed as she shook her head from one side to the other, looking around for any dangers.

She moved closer to the water when she saw about a dozen of female two-leggers coming into sight from the large building where the bells were ringing. All except one was wearing long black dresses, with cloths covering their hair; only their faces were visible.

Sakura did not have time to observe them more; they were getting closer. She looked longingly at the man sleeping on the beach before submerging herself into the water.

----------

The women noticed the young man sprawled out in the sand and ran to him. The one not wearing the black dress bent down and brought the man's head into her lap.

Sasuke woke up slightly due to the woman's long blonde hair tickling his face. '_She the one… who saved me…?_' he mentally asked as he looked into her crystal blue eyes.

"Are you alright, sir?" she asked quietly, brushing her hair out of her face.

Before he could even sum up energy to answer her, Sasuke fell into another state of unconsciousness.

The woman just smiled and brushed his stray hair back and away from his face. "Send someone to town and notify the mayor about this boy. Hopefully the mayor will know what to do with him," she told one of the elder women as she stood up and watched the sun rise further into the sky.

----------

**Author's Notes**: A little late on how long I thought this was going to take me, but here it is! Phew, if it wasn't for Microsoft word, many words would be misspelled. Worst part is, every name I put in here comes up as not a word and with those damn squiggly red lines under it, so my Microsoft Word got a boost on it's vocabulary, 'cause every name I use, I add to the dictionary!

Anyway, like always, I hope you all like this chapter, and I will begin on the next chapter probably later tonight. Reviews are always loved.


	4. IV: Coming of Age

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter IV: **Coming of Age

----------

Sakura watched from the shelter of behind a large rock as Sasuke was carried into the building the female two-leggers came from.

"Sakura-chan, why didn't you stay with him?" came Naruto's voice from beside her. "You're the one who saved him, not that female!"

Sakura smiled sadly. "He could have woken up. And if he saw my tail, he would have been afraid," she lied. She was actually frightened of the two-leggers that were closing in on her. Anko and Temari had told her that two-leggers often threw rocks at sea creatures such as them.

Naruto looked skeptical, but accepted her answer. "We'd better get home, I am so tired." He stretched and lunged into the water, as Sakura too followed suit.

She silently questioned if she would be in trouble, after all, she _was_ out all night. She doubted that Hinata could convince everyone where she was for this long. Sakura sighed. She would be in so much trouble.

----------

Sakura knew her father and grandmother would punish her sooner or later, so she decided later would be better. As soon as she reached the palace when she and Naruto came back, she went straight to her garden and sat with Sasuke. Or at least his statue.

"O-o-oh, Sakura-neechan; y-you're back!" a voice called from behind her. Sakura already knew it was Hinata; the stumbling and shyness of the words gave her away.

"Hinata-neesan, I'm terribly sorry about staying out longer than I said I would. And I'm sorry if I got you in any trouble," Sakura said as she looked down. '_Otou-san and Obaasan probably interrogated her immensely. I can't believe I would put Hinata through that just for my selfish desires!_' Sakura mentally beat herself up.

Hinata responded by pulling her younger sister into a light hug. "We were a-all worried about you, Sakura-neechan. I was worried… I was worried you got hurt!" Hinata surprised Sakura with the power of her usually timid voice. "Please…never leave us for that long again. I do-don't know what I'd do if I was the youngest sister… once more."

Sakura would have laughed at her sister's rare sentences with humor in it, but she was too overwhelmed by the serious tone Hinata was using. Sakura just smiled a returned the hug the dark haired girl was giving her. "Never again, Hinata-neesan, never."

"There you are, you little trouble maker!"

The voice broke the entire moment, and turned Sakura's slightly good mood to a bad one. '_Doesn't she have a knack for showing up at the wrong time!_' Sakura thought darkly, glaring at Anko, whom had interrupted.

"Otou-sama wants to see you, Sakura. This time, I didn't cover for you," Anko scoffed as she beckoned Sakura inside.

"I'll see you later, Hinata-neesan," Sakura swam towards the door to which Anko came from. "Oh yeah," Sakura said while turning to Hinata. "Naruto-kun was interested in a date with you." And with that Sakura went inside, followed by Anko.

Hinata's face flared up as bright as a red star fish. "N-N-Naruto-kun… a date… wi-with… me?" Hinata was stumbling over her words more than usual. Even though she looked flabbergasted on the outside, Hinata inwardly smiled impishly. "Naruto-kun."

----------

Sakura was pushed into the throne chamber by Anko. "Otou-sama will see you in a moment, Sakura." And with that, Anko closed the door behind her youngest sister.

Sakura remained directly in front of her father's throne chair, even though he was not filling it. It wasn't until one of the servants popped their head in for a second did she know that her grandmother was coming as well.

"Sakura-hime! Asuma-sama and Tsunade-sama are on their way," the servant relayed the message to Sakura before closing the door once more. It was a useless effort though. The doors opened again but a moment after words.

Her father, Asuma, and Tsunade took their respected seats and watched Sakura immensely.

Sakura felt uncomfortable with the accusing eyes scanning her, but she knew it could not be avoided. She kept a straight face and looked at the empty throne ahead of her; the chair her mother would sit in at this very moment if she were still alive.

"I cannot tell whether to be angry at you or proud," Asuma said as he finally took his eyes off her.

Tsunade noticed the look of confusion on her granddaughter's face and smiled. "We know what you did for that Human boy, Sakura. And what you did took great courage… even if the circumstances were questionable."

"You could have been hurt, Sakura, or worse! Killed!" Asuma bellowed as his loud voice seemingly echoed through Sakura's head.

"Asuma!" Tsunade chided. She then turned back to the petal-haired mermaid and smiled once more. "I think Sakura has proven her age through her deed; she could have easily let that poor boy drown, but Sakura saved him."

'_I would never let Sasuke drown!_' she mentally shouted. But she felt her heart weigh down with guilt as she remembered all the other two-leggers whom needed her help but she ignored them.

"That is why, my son," Tsunade turned towards Asuma, "I think Sakura should receive her Coming of Age early. Today, in fact."

Sakura's eyes shot towards her grandmother in shock. '_Coming of Age! I'll be able to go to the surface whenever I choose!_' Sakura felt her mind erupt in fireworks, but then they seemed to die down when she remembered her father's word was still law.

Asuma thought hard for a few moments but then shrugged. "I'm sure she's ready."

Sakura flung herself at her father and drew him into a tight hug. "Thank-you, Otou-san!" she said as she kissed him on the cheek. She then grappled on to Tsunade. "You, too, Obaasan; thank-you!"

Asuma then stood up from the throne and went to leave the room. "I'll contact the servants and our friends. This will be a celebration beyond anyone's comprehension," he said haughtily. "After all, this will be the last Coming of Age ceremonies for my children." And with that, he disappeared through the door.

----------

Asuma was not lying when he said the party would be big. Everybody and anybody were at Sakura's Coming of Age celebration.

Sakura could not believe all the people who actually came to her party; stunned was an understatement to what she felt.

She watched as her sisters still took hold of each of their escorts. Anko was accompanied her fiancé, Hatake Kakashi, one of her father's military generals; the escort for Temari was the only man who could probably put up with her and her personality, Nara Shikamaru, probably the laziest, but cleverest, creature in the entire ocean; Tenten came with the thick eye browed merman, Rock Lee, the one man whom often asked Sakura to court him; Kin came with the silver-haired genius, Yakushi Kabuto, whom she knew to be one of Orochimaru's lackeys; and finally came Hinata whom appeared with Naruto, that loud-mouth blonde everyone in the ocean knew.

Before, when Sakura had not received her Coming of Age, she was not allowed to really be with any other males aside from Naruto. Her father had told her it was to keep her name honorable and to keep her untainted until she was married. At first, Sakura did not know what he had meant, but as she grew older and wiser in her years, she figured it out.

Getting away from the party, she retreated to her garden for some peace and quiet. '_I should be happier…Why aren't I?_' While in the company of other's she smiled courteously but on the inside her heart ached. '_Why are you doing this to me, Sasuke-kun?_'

"How come you're out here all alone, Sakura?"

Sakura jumped at the intrusion of another voice. She turned around and saw the one man who could not wait for her to receive her Coming of Age; Hagane Kotetsu.

'_Great…_' Sakura inwardly grimaced. She had hoped in the back of her mind that Kotetsu would not be able to come to her Coming of Age, but she knew it was inevitable.

"Good evening, Hagane-san," she tried to say without lacing it with poison; she almost was unsuccessful.

Kotetsu just smirked and swam closer to her. "Why must you be so formal around me, Sakura?"

'_Because you're an ass and you're trying to woo me over to marry you, you bastard!_"

"Because I shouldn't be rude and be formal with you when I hardly know you, Hagane-san," she said as calmly and nicely as she could.

But then she realized her mistake.

"Then why don't I let you get to know me more," he answered her slyly. And before she knew it, his lips covered hers in a light kiss.

Her body was stiff and frozen; she couldn't break away. All she did was imagine that instead of Kotetsu kissing her, it was Sasuke.

He broke the kiss moments later and gazed into Sakura's eyes. "I will see you another time soon, Sakura," he said before he returned to the grand hall for the party, leaving Sakura alone once more.

'_That bastard!_' she mentally screamed. '_That kiss was meant for Sasuke-kun!_' But weirdly enough, she was not _that_ mad about it as she thought she was. '_Maybe my heart actually believed it was Sasuke-kun kissing me,_' she concluded as she unconsciously fingered the symbol of her Coming of Age: the pin.

The pin was made to look like a flower with a rounded jewel at the center. The jewel was often very large and came from the shinning treasures of the two-leggers. Her jewel was a smooth round dark green jewel that brought out her eyes. Her grandmother had called it an emerald.

She took the pin out of her hair and went back inside. But instead of going back to the party, she headed straight for her room and retired for the night.

She immediately plopped down in her bed and closed her eyes, only seeing Sasuke's black eyes staring back at her. She shook her head and tried to rid herself of him in her thoughts, but all in vain.

She was sick of feeling like this: pining over the very thought of him, her heart aching over the presence of him, and her eyes longing for the sight of him.

It was then she decided she had to be with him. She would not be able to live without being by his side, but though she did not want to, she knew that he could not love a mermaid. '_But… he could love another two-legger._'

She then knew what had to be done, and she knew the consequences of the actions she was about to take.

There was only one person who could help her now.

He was infamous throughout the entire ocean as the Sea Witch.

And he was Orochimaru.

----------

**Author's Notes**: Phew, done with Chapter 4! Woo! I had trouble figuring out who should be Sakura's dad and at first it was gonna be Sarutobi, but then there was the issue of his age over Tsunade's. Then it was gonna be Dan, but then I remembered Tsunade and Dan were lover's in Naruto, so that was out. That's what mostly took this chapter so long.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your reviews, they get me motivated to keep on writing.

So keep your reviews coming and I'll keep on writing… though I probably will write with or without them anyway… But don't forget to leave a review anyway!


	5. V: Her Decision

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter V**: Her Decision

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"Obaasan, do two-leggers live forever, or do they die as we do here in the sea?" Sakura asked the next day out of nowhere.

Tsunade looked up in her granddaughter's green eyes with suspicion. "My little Cherry Blossom, why would you want to know such a thing?"

Sakura searched for an answer behind her large forehead. "After saving that two-legger two nights ago, I've become curious," she responded evenly.

Tsunade accepted the answer. "I see. Those 'two-leggers' you refer to are called Humans," the blonde replied. "Nonetheless, Humans do not retain immortality. They die as we do, only at a faster rate. As we live to be about three-hundred years old, Humans often die before they reach their ninetieth circle," Tsunade told Sakura almost sounding sad.

"They're lives are so short…" Sakura murmured.

"Indeed. But we have one thing to envy them for."

Her grandmother's statement caught her attention. "Their legs?" Sakura inquired curiously.

Tsunade laughed. "'Their legs?' Of course not! It's their immortal souls that we should desire. When a mermaid or merman dies, their body becomes foam upon the crests of the waves on the surface. When a Human dies, their soul sheds its physical shell and continues to live on; never dying," Tsunade responded almost sounding bitter. "But we are cursed; we are to never live after our deaths."

It was silent as it normally was when Sakura talked with her grandmother.

"Ah, but let us not pity ourselves. We may not live on like the humans, but we live much happier lives than they could in their immortal ones.

Sakura sighed and looked at her emerald scaled tail in disgust. '_Why couldn't I have been born with two legs instead of a tail? Why was I brought into this world as a mermaid…Why not a Human?_'

"Sakura, don't be sad or angry. You're still young and you have centuries to go before you must face your fate. Be happy, Cherry Blossom."

----------

Sakura sat in her garden for hours, fighting a battle within her. Part of her longed to be with Sasuke on the surface, but the other part felt she could not leave her family and the ocean.

'_What am I to do?_' Inside, her heart clenched as her memories began running through her head.

**_---Flash--- _**

"_Don't tell any of your sisters this, Sakura, but I think you're the prettiest of all of them!"_

"_Really, kaa-chan?" a young Sakura asked excitingly. "Even with my huge forehead?"_

_Her mother laughed as she pushed Sakura's short locks away from her face and kissed the child's forehead. "Hai, even with you gigantic forehead, Sakura."_

_Sakura hugged her mother tighter and giggled._

_**---End Flash---**_

"Okaa-san…" Sakura whimpered as she hugged herself. '_Why did you leave?_' she closed her eyes.

_**---Flash---**_

"_Tou-chan! Is kaa-chan okay?" Sakura asked when her father came out from her parents' shared room. _

_Her father looked away from his youngest daughter and waited for his voice to even out. "Sakura, kaa-chan is dying…and I fear she only has a few hours left. She told me that she wants to see you," Asuma said before swimming down the hall and out of sight._

_Sakura opened the door to the room and swam over to her mother's bedside. _

"_Sakura…my, don't you look beautiful today…" her mother muttered as loud as she could, but it still came out just above a whisper._

_Sakura watched as crimson liquid floated from her mother and mixed with the water as it left her body._

_Sakura remembered just a day ago her mother was brought home after a trip to the surface with a harpoon sticking out of her side. Apparently, she was on the surface, escorted by Jiraiya and Kujira. When they began descending into the debts of the ocean, one of the Humans on the ship nearby threw a harpoon in an attempt to kill and capture Kujira. The first one hit Kujira right on his back, but Sakura's mother managed to pull it out, but not before getting hit with one by accident. _

_Jiraiya was the one whom had brought her mother back home. Her father was distraught at the sight of his wife's limp body. "Kurenai! Kurenai!" Sakura had remembered her father yelling as he and Jiraiya took her into the bedroom._

"_Kaa-chan…I love you!" Sakura yelled as she slumped against the bed and put her head over her mother's chest._

_She could not see her mother smile but she did. "I love you, too, my Cherry Blossom."_

"_Kaa-chan? What's a 'cherry blossom'?" Sakura whispered, still not lifting her head._

"_I'll tell you when I feel better, okay?" Kurenai said as she summoned her strength to caress her daughter's hair._

_Sakura just nodded her head and fell asleep against her mother, listening to her mother sing the lullabies she used to when Sakura was still very young._

_**---End Flash---**_

'_And when I awoke… she was gone…_' "Okaa-san… what do you think I should do?" Sakura asked the water around her, hoping for an answer.

"Do about what, Sakura-chan?" she heard Naruto ask from behind her.

"Naruto-kun! I hadn't realized you were there!" Sakura yelped, turning.

Naruto crossed his arms and looked her up and down. "Are you alright? You don't look so good," he asked as he circled around her.

"Naruto-kun… would you do anything to be with the one you love?" Sakura asked, looking away from his crystal eyes.

Naruto stopped circling her. "If it was for the one I love, I would do anything."

Sakura smiled and hugged him.

"Hey—! What are you—?" he asked surprised as she encircled her arms around his neck and gave him a light peck on the cheek.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun; you've just made me realize my decision," Sakura said as she let go of him.

"You're welcome?" he said, unsure if he did a good thing or a bad thing.

' "_Be happy, Cherry Blossom_"_ she said. Sasuke-kun is the only one who can make me happy. And the only way he can make me happy is to be with him,_' she concluded as she began swimming into the direction of Orochimaru's bastion.

"Sakura-chan! Where are you goin'?" Naruto yelled from her garden as she got further away.

She stopped for a moment and turned. "I'm going to see Orochimaru-sama!" and then continued swimming.

"WHAT!" she heard Naruto yell. She could tell he would follow her now.

'_Orochimaru-sama…you're the only one who can help me now…'_

----------

**Author's Notes**: Shorter than the last, but I wanted to get this up 'cause tomorrow I have to study for some finals and then Monday I have more studying to do. There, some light shined upon Sakura's motherlessness…is that a word?

Thanks for the reviews everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far.


	6. VI: No Turning Back

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter VI**: No Turning Back

----------

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as he finally caught up with her. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!"

Sakura chose to keep ignoring him until he calmed down, which she knew would not be until probably after she saw Orochimaru.

"Sakura-chan… please, why are you going to see—that? The Sakura I know would never even mention that name let alone go to see him; so who are you and what have you done with Sakura-chan?" Naruto exclaimed as he stopped right in front of her and shot and accusing finger at her.

She did not acknowledge him, just merely swam around him. '_Not even you can stop me, Naruto-kun,_' she thought sadly.

"Sakura-chan… what is this really about," he asked still tailing her, "you said something about love, but—wait… is it about that two-legger; Uchiha?" he finished, bewildered.

Naruto took her silence as affirmative. "Sakura-chan, you should give up right now, he's a two-legger and you're a mermaid; it'll never work!"

"Naruto-kun," Sakura said, stopping, "that is why I'm going to see Orochimaru-sama. He can make me into a Human… he can make me acceptable in Sasuke-kun's eyes."

Naruto frowned. "But Sakura-chan—"

Sakura turned to look at him. "You said you would do anything for the one you loved! And that's just what I am going to do! I don't care what you think, Naruto, this is _my_ decision!" she yelled at him before turning and swimming as fast as she could away from him.

Naruto felt a pang in his heart. The drop of "kun" from his name did not go unnoticed. "Sakura-chan…" he whispered sadly before following slowly after her.

----------

Sakura finally came to the border of Orochimaru's property. Even though it was as well lit as any other part of the ocean, it seemed so dark to her. On the sandy ground were hundreds of flat water snakes which seemed to guard the entire estate.

Sakura unconsciously shivered as she inhaled deeply and continued to swim deeper into the clutches of one of the ocean's most fearsome creatures.

To her surprise, the snakes did not even seem to notice her presence; they just continued to lay on the ground. She was thankful though when she saw the palace ahead.

It was made entirely from bones of Humans and other sea creatures. To say she was disgusted would be an understatement. She realized she had stared at the mansion for too long when Naruto finally caught up with her.

She was about to release a comment but he spoke first.

"I may not approve of what you're doing, but I can at least be supportive, right?"

"Naruto-kun…" she smiled and nodded before they both swam up to the palace.

Unlike her palace, Orochimaru's had no defenses like walls or gates, it was open and an easy target. But Sakura knew that no one would dare tread on Orochimaru's estate looking for a fight; it was the reason Orochimaru was able to do what he wanted, to an extent, without getting in trouble for it.

She finally arrived at the bone door and hesitated. '_If I do this… there will be no turning back,_' she thought as she raised her fist to knock. '_No regrets._' She then knocked confidently on the door and waited.

The door opened to a small crack, but large enough for her to get through. "Come in," came the dark and slow reply from within.

"Wait out here, Naruto-kun. I'm sure he will only want to see me alone," Sakura said as she slipped through the slit and the door closed once again.

"Orochimaru! You better not hurt Sakura-chan, or else I'll come in there and demonstrate exactly what I think of you!" he yelled as he banged on the door.

----------

Sakura heard his comment from outside and let out an exasperated sigh. '_What an idiot,_' she thought as she shook her head. But her calm attitude was disrupted by the other presence in the room.

"Lively, isn't he?"

Sakura turned toward the voice and for the first time saw the Sea Witch with her own eyes. She always had this mental image of a hideous, illiterate monster; he was really the opposite.

He had the longest and darkest hair she had ever seen, and his eyes looked like those of his faithful snakes guarding his palace. He, too, was a merman, but his tail greatly resembled that of a snake in its texture, color, and design.

"I know why you're here, young princess…and I have to say, you are quite the foolish one," he explained, moving closer to as if to analyze her. "But I will help you nonetheless."

Sakura was relieved, but she knew she was not out of the thicket yet. She had her stories of the great prices creatures paid for Orochimaru to grant their wishes… she just wondered what he would want from her.

"I am not crooked, young princess, so listen closely to the effects of the draught I will prepare," he said as he led her into another room with a cauldron. From that cauldron, a blue flame emitted.

"Now, Sakura-hime, this draught will turn your tail in to two Human legs, but you must drink it above on the surface before the third sunrise from now. After drinking it, your tail will change into legs, but the pain you will feel will be excruciating. Almost like—how should I explain—like a sword is being shoved through your body at an exceptionally slow rate," the snake-like man explained, almost hauntingly.

Sakura felt her heart well up in slight fear. '_That can't be the only price…_'

"The price for it all, Sakura-hime, is your voice."

Sakura was confused by his request. "My voice, Orochimaru-sama?" she asked, almost uncertain she had even heard him correctly.

Orochimaru smiled cunningly. "It is a small price to pay for the gift I'm to bestow upon you, is it not, Sakura-hime?"

Sakura nodded. "B-but how am I supposed to talk to him—I suppose I could write, correct?" she questioned, hearing desperation in her own voice.

The snake-like man shook his head. "A side-effect of the draught, my dear. Your hands will be dumb to any writing utensil picked up," he secretly smiled, "you do have your lovely eyes though, I'm sure you can learn to manipulate them to talk to him, ne? You will have your form and in no time you will have grace in your step, this can surely enchant a man's heart," Orochimaru reasoned.

Sakura would not let herself think anymore, if she did, she knew for sure she would turn back. "I agree to the conditions."

Orochimaru laughed darkly. "And you should also know this cannot be undone. You can never become a mermaid again. You will never swim in the water to see your sisters or your father's palace. And if you fail to win your lover's heart and he marries another… the morning after the wedding, your heart will break, and you will turn into the foam on the crest of waves the moment the sun's rays touch your skin," he replied as he began pulling ingredients off his stocked up shelves.

"I-I-I…I agree." She could feel her heart wretch more than it had ever done before.

He laughed once more. "Then let us begin, princess."

----------

Naruto listened in onto the conversation with his ear pressed against the door. "Sakura-chan…"

He heard no voices anymore, only silence. He pressed his ear harder against the door only to get smacked with it… hard.

He saw pink and realized Sakura was finally done mingling with the 'monster'. He noticed in her hands, held to her chest tightly, was a round, glass bottle of crimson liquid.

"Sakura-chan, I heard everything. Your voice, the draught… and the price of failure," he muttered looking at the ground.

Sakura looked over at him and gave him a reassuring smile. '_It's alright, Naruto-kun. I'll be happy,_' she thought to him, almost hoping he could hear her somehow.

"I'll—we'll never hear your voice again, Sakura-chan! I'll never hear you laugh…yell at me…or even make fun of me. And what's worse is that I'll never see you again!" he cried with obvious depression in his voice. "I… I don't think I can give you up, Sakura-chan. And if you don't get that Uchiha-teme to fall in love with you… you'll die. And I don't think I could bear that!"

Sakura knit her eyebrows together and slightly frowned. '_You're making this much harder for me, Naruto-kun._'

"Sakura-chan, you don't even know where to find that bastard, and you only have two days, about!"

Sakura froze at the statement said. He was right; she had absolutely no clue as where to find Sasuke. She was positive that his residence was not where she had left him on shore because the Human females did not even know him.

She felt her fists unconsciously clench at the thought of the woman who he probably thought saved him. '_I saved you…why does another get my glory?_'

Then she remembered the task at hand, she had no time to be… envious?

The pink-haired mermaid looked to Naruto, as if to tell him to help her think. She could not ask any of her family members, for they would find out about her plan and definitely stop her, not to mention the shame she would feel showing them she sold her voice just to be Human; the kind that killed her mother.

"Heh," she heard Naruto make. "I've got it, Sakura-chan. I'm sure my perverted uncle wouldn't mind doing one last favor for you. He knows almost everything there is to know about the geography of this region… below and above the water," he told her, smirking.

She looked at him oddly. Just before he told her he would not be able to let her go, now he was offering to help her.

Naruto smiled at her unasked question. "Sakura-chan…I don't want you to leave, and I know I would rather you stay in the ocean, even if it means you'll hate me for as long as we live. But you're my best and only friend aside from Hinata-chan. And if you're happy…I guess I am, too."

Sakura stared shocked at Naruto's smiling face. There was so much joy inside her that she giggled, but of course, it was not heard. '_You're a true friend, Naruto-kun… I will miss you so much!_' she thought as she slowly brought him into an embrace.

"Hey, hey—!" he said in surprise while he turned slightly red. "I know it's hard, but try to resist me, Sakura-chan! I'm into your sister, not you, you know!" he yelled.

Sakura smiled and punched him in the arm. '_Thank-you, Naruto-kun._'

----------

**Author's Notes**: There we go, chapter 6 completed! And my finals are over too, so that means more writing from me if I don't get lazy.

Thanks for you're reviews everyone!

**Black Robed One**: Thanks for the complements! I don't know what it is about me, but I often just choose one girl out of a whole show, game, movie, book that I like the most. Like in Harry Potter, I like Narcissa Malfoy, no other female character; it's weird. But don't worry, there will be no Ino-bashing, or negative portrait; there is just no one else that can fill the spot I'm giving her. No, Orochimaru is still male, I would find him even creepier if I changed his sex. Since I am Wiccan, I decided to incorporate some of the titles we give ourselves, I suppose. A male "magic user" in Wiccan beliefs is still called a witch, no title alterations with gender. I suppose I should have cleared that up before. : )


	7. VII: A New World

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter VII**: A New World

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As Naruto promised, he talked to Jiraiya immediately, that very same day actually. And as Naruto had also said, his uncle knew exactly who Sasuke was and where to find him.

"Staying at his summer palace, naturally," Jiraiya had said. "Not too far away actually, maybe a half-hours swim."

Naruto exclaimed when he heard the news. "That means I can visit you, Sakura-chan...in private, of course!"

Sakura returned his bright smile. '_I would like that very much, Naruto-kun._'

Naruto nodded. "Sakura-chan, make sure it is at night, with a moon," he told her, seriously.

Sakura looked slightly confused.

Naruto's signature smile returned. "Reflect the moon's light from your pin to far out into the sea, I will watch for it every night."

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She left Jiraiya and Naruto's home in the cloak of darkness. She knew she could not make any mistakes after coming this far.

She passed by her place of birth, the palace. Knowing it was extremely risky, she entered it stealthily, her grandmother's words still ringing in her ear. '_Be discreet._'

She snuck into the room her and her sisters slept in. Quietly, she placed a kiss on each of their brows, careful not to wake them.

She then preceded to do the same to her father and grandmother, only she had to be extra careful. After completing what she intended to do, she left as silently as she came. She left the palace's perimeter and began swimming straight up. She stopped for a moment, to look once more at the seemingly small palace far below. '_Good bye, otou-san, obaasan. Good bye, my sisters, I hope you all live full, long lives. I love you all,_' she thought. This was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life; turning away from her family, probably never to see them again. With a heavy heart, she resumed her swimming. She knew that swimming straight up to the surface would normally be stupid, but it was probably the smartest thing, seeing as the checkpoints were probably told to keep a look out for her, since she had been missing since about dawn.

When she broke the surface, she wasted no time, and looked straight up into the sky, looking for the star Jiraiya had told her about. The North Star, he had called it. It was to help her find her way to Sasuke faster.

She found the star, she hoped, and directed herself what she assumed was East and began swimming as fast as she could, just as if her life depended on it. '_Somehow, I think my life will become more difficult after I take this potion…_' she thought, looking down at the red liquid, still grasped tightly in her hand. She then began having doubts. If she did not drink the potion, she would never become Human, thus rendering the ultimatum powerless. '_I can live the rest of my life as a mute here in the sea, right?_' she thought. But as soon as she thought it, she began mentally abusing her mind. '_No! I cannot have such thoughts. I agreed to everything, and I have to follow through…No matter what,_' she thought in a gloomy tone. '_There is a happy side to these events; I will be with my Sasuke-kun._' The thought brought a smile to her face. '_His warm eyes watching over me, his lovely voice talking to me as I intently listen to all he has to say…_' she inwardly sighed as she thought of how much she was going to love spending all her time with him.

She then realized she was so close to land. '_I must have been too lost in my own mind._' She looked up further onto the land, and right on the cliffs of the shore was a very tall, stone castle. The bricks it was made out of showed off their grayish lavender color in the light slowly radiating off the far off horizon. '_Wait… light!_' she exclaimed, looking back and seeing light barely peaking over the water farther off in the ocean. The draught Orochimaru had given her only would work at sunrise and the potion would only be good for three sunrises, and she knew that her father's guards would find her if she did not drink the potion during this sunrise. '_Shit, shit!_' she thought as she doubled her speed for the sandy beach ahead. Around her, the sky was turning a lovely red, hued by oranges and yellows. '_Just like the day I last saw Sasuke-kun,_' she reminisced.

When she got close enough to the shore, she rested her tail, and let the waves bring her in. The waves cradled her onto the soft sand and receded back. Hastily, Sakura took out the cork keeping the crimson liquid inside the bottle, and watched and waited for the sunrise to occur. As soon as she felt the sun's warm rays on her, she brought the bottle to her lips and, without hesitation, let the fluid slither down her throat.

At first, she felt nothing, and wondered if Orochimaru had tricked her. But soon she took back the thought as pain coursed through her body, but it was worst in her tail. The emerald scaled tail was going into spasms that Sakura could not even hope to stop. The pain was worse than getting stabbed with a sword, Sakura concluded. It was like being stabbed with hundreds of swords at every part of her body. She closed her eyes to try and make the pain disappear, but she kept seeing white flashes every time her body pulsated with pain. Then the worst pain of all occurred. She was too afraid to open her eyes, but from what she felt, it felt as though her tail was being ripped apart. She opened her mouth to let out a loud scream of pain, but all that came out was air.

----------

Sasuke noticed the sun's rays peaking through the dense forest that surrounded him and his brother. "We've been sparring since four o'clock and it's already past sunrise, Itachi. I think we should stop for now," he called to his brother while he wiped the sweat on his brow.

Itachi nodded and began walking towards his younger sibling. "I think we should be working on your swimming rather than your fighting," Itachi said coolly as he walked past.

Sasuke glared at his brother's retreating back. "And what's that supposed to mean, Itachi?" Sasuke barked, catching up with the older Uchiha. "It wasn't my fault I almost drowned. If anything, you should blame the weather."

Itachi kept quiet and continued walking, ignoring his brother's last statement all together. When the two males reached the cobblestone bridge, they both took a break and sat on the stone walls overlooking the white sand beach below.

Itachi moved his black eyes over the waves, but something lying on the sand caught his eyes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he thought it was driftwood, but upon closer examination, it was a girl. Without a second thought, he began walking further along the wall, reaching the steps, and began his trek down, albeit a little slow.

"Where the hell are you going, now?" Sasuke called to him, still on the bridge, but now leaning against the wall instead of sitting on it.

Itachi stopped and lifted his head to talk. "Look onto the beach," was all he said before continuing.

Sasuke was confused, but proceeded to look onto the shore. And he too saw the girl. Since his eyes were in much better shape than his brother's, he could make out the features of the girl, other than just her gender. She was lying sprawled out on the sand, nude. Sasuke concluded that she must have been thrown overboard of her ship, or her ship sunk, just as his did. It was hard to tell what the bright pink colored stuff was near her head, and Sasuke thought it must have been hair… the color of cherry blossoms. He quickly followed his brother, now curious about the washed up girl.

Itachi was already kneeling beside her by the time Sasuke reached the two. It was true, her hair was pink.

"She's breathing normally, so she must have passed out from something other than breathing in water. Maybe it was from exhaustion," Itachi contemplated.

"Exhaustion from what?" Sasuke inquired as he, too, knelt down next to the unconscious girl.

Itachi smirked. "Swimming."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sasuke glared back at Itachi's smirk. "Shut up."

Itachi chuckled, but turned his attention back to the girl as she stirred slightly, but still did not awake. "Go get Shizune-san," he commanded to Sasuke.

Sasuke stood up. "Why can't you do it?" he demanded. He hated it when his brother told him to do anything.

"Because I don't trust you alone with the girl, and you seem to have enough energy to take on the steps. Besides, what would the servants think if I came waltzing in with a naked girl in my arms; my clothes are too dirty to wrap her in. So get Shizune-san, and tell her to bring a sheet or blanket," Itachi said as he examined an empty glass bottle next to the girl.

Sasuke glared at his brother but soon complied, and began up the stone steps that led to the castle.

----------

When Sakura opened her eyes at first, her vision was blurry and distorted. She felt so warm and dry. '_Wait… dry?_' she thought as she willed her vision to clear. It cleared slowly but surely. She could make out a door further to her right, and some furniture. Light spilled into the room through the glass windows. Sakura looked down and was covered in blankets and on a bed. It was then it finally clicked. '_The potion worked!_' she exclaimed, looking under the covers to be met with two peach appendages emerging from her hips rather than a long tail.

Her head snapped up from the covers as the door opened and in walked a female human with short black hair, wearing a modest blue gown with a white apron over it.

"Thank goodness, you're awake!" the young woman said as she stood by the bed. "Itachi-sama and Sasuke-sama found you on the shore. Do you remember how you got there?"

Sakura smiled brightly. '_Sasuke-kun found me, and brought me into his home!_'

Shizune was confused by the reaction of the younger girl but smiled anyway. She decided that maybe she did not remember and moved onto another question. "I'm Shizune. Can you tell me your name?"

Sakura nodded and said told the woman her name, but nothing came out. '_Dammit, I forgot!_'

Shizune's eyes widened. "Oh my! You must have lost your voice from whatever happened," she said in pity. Then something else popped up. "You can understand me, right?"

Sakura replied with a nod. '_I'm mute, not stupid,_' she mentally growled, even though she was smiling on the outside.

"Well, that's better than nothing. Perhaps I can get you a quill, and you can write me your—" but she was cut off by Sakura's shaking of her head. "Oh, I apologize, I sometimes forget most females, even ones of your class aren't taught to write," she said as she folded back the covers and began helping Sakura up.

'_My class?_' Sakura tried to decipher what she meant as she stumbled a few times as Shizune helped her stand up. She felt embarrassed that Shizune had to assist her in walking, too.

Shizune sensed her confusion. "I can tell you're high-born from the pin in your hair. I must say it beautifully brings out your eyes. Oh and that hair, I've never seen the color in my life. You must be proud of it!"

Sakura blushed slightly.

"Just wait right here, darling. I must go fetch some clothes for you, I'm sure Her Majesty wouldn't mind you borrowing some clothes; you look like you're in the range of her size." And then the woman, Shizune, left Sakura alone.

Sakura looked into the mirror Shizune placed her before, and admired her two legs more.

----------

Shizune was returning to the room with a green gown embroidered at the edges with silver thread. Just as she rounded the corner to the hallway the room was located in, she nearly ran straight into Sasuke. "Oh, Sasuke-sama! I didn't see you there," she apologized as she continued walking.

"Shizune-san," he started and waited for her to stop. When she did, he continued. "Did you learn anything about the girl?"

He heard Shizune sigh and turn around. "Apparently she's a mute and she doesn't know how to write. But thankfully, she _can_ understand what I say to her. I was just going to get her dressed. When I'm done with that, I'll let you and/or Itachi speak with her." Shizune then opened the door to the room, and closed it behind her.

Shizune soon dressed the pink-haired girl into the gown and began properly dressing her hair. "I was beginning to become afraid I was the only woman to have short hair on the continent. Women nowadays seem to favor longer hair. I find it just annoying," the older woman explained to Sakura.

Sakura silently agreed.

"And you're hair is so lovely, I'm jealous. It's the color of newly bloomed cherry blossoms—"

Sakura found her chance to let the woman know her name, she immediately turned around to face Shizune, and placed her hands on her chest.

"Are you all right?" Shizune could not tell what she wanted at first.

Sakura tried her best to clearly mouth the word "name". She then directed her hands toward Shizune and mouthed "Shizune". Then mouthed "name" again and she placed her hands once more on her chest.

"Oh! You're name…is Cherry Blossom?" she asked, puzzled.

Sakura quickly shook her head. She took her hands once more, placed them far apart, and moved them closer together, indicating a shorter word. And mouthed "Sakura" but Shizune did not get the "Sakura" part of it.

"Cherry?"

Sakura shook her head again.

"Blossom?" Shizune asked, unsure of herself.

Sakura inwardly sighed.

"Sakura?"

Sakura's head snapped up and she nodded vigorously and Shizune smiled brightly.

"I can see why your parents gave you such a name. The hair is practically a tell-tale trait," she said as she finished with Sakura's hair. The cherry hair was pulled back into a high pony tail, with two stands hanging from her bangs to hang on either side of her face; framing it. Her pin was placed right where the hair was held up in the pony tail. "You look magnificent."

Sakura agreed as she took in her appearance as it reflected from the mirror. She decided she never looked so beautiful.

Sakura then felt Shizune pulling her toward the door, and the young girl began to stumble once again; her legs still refused to respond to her correctly.

'_Stupid legs, work already! I can't look like a fool in front of Sasuke!_'

"You still must be disoriented from the shipwreck. Don't worry, just try your best right here, we'll practice a bit for you." Shizune said, letting go of her hand, and walking back to the opposite side of the room. "Now walk towards me, Sakura-san. We'll see how you can go on your own," Shizune instructed.

Talking a deep breath, Sakura moved one foot in front of the other, and began walking slowly, albeit very unstable. She made it to the middle of the room with a lot of stumbling, but only a few falls. '_This is so hard!_' Sakura complained as she sighed.

"Almost there, Sakura-san. Just half way to go and you've done well so far," Shizune said, encouragingly.

'_Where were you looking then?_' Sakura thought glumly, but nonetheless, began walking again. This time, she could admit, she did better. Not so much stumbling, but no falls. Shizune kept moving to different corners of the room for Sakura to walk to, and each time they started again, Sakura got better.

By the time Shizune decided they should stop, Sakura could almost walk like a Human whose been walking all his/her life.

Shizune then beckoned for Sakura to follow her through the door as she opened it. "We've wasted enough time, I'm sure Itachi-sama and Sasuke-sama are eager to see how you are doing."

At the mention of Sasuke's name, Sakura immediately followed Shizune, enthusiastic about finally seeing Sasuke.

----------

Shizune took her to a giant hall, like the one her palace had, only it was much larger. Shizune sat her down at the long wooden table and told her that Sasuke and his brother would be here in a few moments.

She was glad Shizune did not lie to her. Because almost as soon as she left, Sasuke and his brother, she assumed, came in and sat down at the table with her.

It was very quiet for a few moments.

Sasuke was the first one to speak. "So, Shizune-san tells me you're a mute, correct?" he asked, not looking at her at first.

Sakura had a dreamy look on her face as she nodded slowly. '_His voice is so…enticing,_' she thought as she stared at his black eyes that were now looking at the table.

"And you're name _is_ Sakura, right?" he asked, now putting his eyes on her to watch her reaction.

She once again nodded and smiled.

"Well, Sakura-san, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want until we locate your family, or such," Sasuke said smiling slightly, trying to be as much of a good host as he could.

Just then a man with long brown hair strode in and whispered something in Itachi's ear.

Itachi got up. "My apologies, Sakura-san, but Hyuuga-san and I have some business to attend to. Sasuke, I wish for you to show the young lady around, so she doesn't get lost when she's alone," Itachi said as he left the room with Neji.

Sasuke got up, and as soon as he did, Sakura followed suit. "Come along, Sakura-san, we'll start with the gardens first. I'm sure you'll love them," he said, trying not to sound uninterested in his given task.

He led her out of the large hall and through many corridors until they reached a wooden door. "Go on," he said, "open it."

And she took the knob, turned it, and opened the door to be greeted by the most beautiful scents she had ever encountered. She was outside once more, but it was strange, it was an enclosed space, but there was no roof over it. '_This is nothing like my garden,_' Sakura thought in amazement as she trailed her eyes over all the pastel colored flowers and fruited trees.

As the couple walked the stone trail through the garden, Sasuke was kind enough to explain all the names of the flowers for her, which she was glad for.

But she stopped when he named a particular tree that had no flowers on it, only leaves.

"This is a cherry blossom tree," he said. "It bloomed earlier, back in spring. I'm afraid to say the flowers have already fallen off," he told her.

She frowned. She had looked so forward to seeing exactly what her mother named her after, and why.

Sasuke seemed to notice her change in attitude and led her back into the large castle. He took her past many rooms and through countless halls, only to bring her into a room adored with paintings on all of its walls.

He brought her before one in specific. "This is what a cherry blossom tree looks like in bloom," he told her as he watched he eyes carefully look at the picture in wonder. Then her smile returned.

'_Now I know…it's because of the color,_' she thought brightly, looking up into Sasuke's dark eyes and silently thanked him. '_Thank you so much, Sasuke-kun. You don't know how much this means to me._'

He smiled back at her but broke out of the trance her eyes set him into. "Come along, still much to see, Sakura-chan. And I don't want to keep you past lunch."

----------

She awoke in the same bed as she did yesterday, only she was more aware of her surroundings. She stretched and opened her eyes, expecting bright sunlight to flood through the windows, but she never met that sight. The room was darker than usual, but the curtains were opened. She jumped out of bed and ran to the window. There were dark clouds looming above and it seemed as if water was falling from the sky. Astounded by the event, she ran out of her bedroom and through the halls, trying to find the stairs so she could get to the outside to view this incident while it was occurring. Her luck ran dry when she slammed into Sasuke as he exited a room.

He saw Sakura and sighed. "What's with every one running into me all of a su—" he stopped as he realized what Sakura was wearing… or rather what she was not. "Why… are you in your underwear?" he exclaimed, averting his eyes, focusing them on a portrait that hung further down the hall.

Sakura looked down at herself. '_I'm not naked… what's the big deal?_' she questioned as she heard Sasuke yell for Shizune.

It took her a few minutes, but Shizune finally showed up, and chuckled slightly at what she saw, but she hid her laughter as Sasuke glowered. "Sakura-san, you can't run around like that; it's indecent. Come back to your room and we'll get you dressed," Shizune said as she led Sakura away. Sakura looked back at Sasuke's retreating back and felt almost betrayed.

'_It's not his fault…I'm just not used to Human customs,_' she concluded.

----------

She was finally dressed and ran, once more, through the halls and down the stairs. She came to one of the doors leading outside, and hastily opened it and ran out. She suddenly felt the coldness of the water that was dropping from above. '_How is this possible?_' she questioned, not ever hoping for an answer. She liked the mystery the way it was.

She twirled around in it, and let her clothes become heavy with water, but she did not care. For some reason, the rain made her feel more at home.

She stopped her antics when she noticed the faint outline of a person exiting the forest just beyond the bridge. All she saw was black hair and dark clothes and she immediately ran for him. '_Why's Sasuke-kun out here?_' she asked mentally as she got closer. But soon she realized her perceptions were off and slowed her running pace to a trot. It was not Sasuke, but his brother. '_Itachi…I think?_' she knit her brows together. '_Alright… why is Itachi out here?_' she corrected herself as she finally confronted him. Being polite, she smiled as brightly as she could, despite him not being the person she thought him to be at first.

"Good morning, Sakura-san," he mumbled as he walked past her. His hair was lank from the rain, but still looked as sleek and lustrous as it normally did. She did not want to admit it, but she favored Itachi's well groomed hair to Sasuke's spike-like hair.

She turned and followed him as he walked over the bridge and towards the castle.

He stopped abruptly and she bumped into his back. He turned his head to gaze at her from over his back. His coal eyes met her apologetic ones and he turned around and kept walking, not even apologizing for stopping so suddenly.

'_Jerk,_' she thought bitterly. She waited in the same spot on the bridge, even after he went back inside the castle. It was not until she saw something white flash across the dark sky and heard a loud boom that she decided to go inside. She was not frightened by the storm raging outside, but rather fascinated by it.

Every minute that passed by, the light flashes became more frequent and the ground shaking roars became louder. She sat on a small couch facing a window and watched it, ignoring all else around her. She was even ignorant to the fact that Sasuke had entered the room.

"I, too, like thunder and lightning storms, Sakura-san."

She jumped slightly at the voice behind her. She whipped her head around only to see nothing but a dark and empty room. '_I could have sworn_—'

"Boo," came the same voice, but now it was right in her ear.

She practically bounced off the couch and about three feet into the air. Although he could not hear her scream like he knew she wanted to, he heard her gasp loudly at his voice.

She turned her head towards him and he shocked eyes softened slightly upon realizing it was him.

He smirked. "I'm sorry, Sakura-san, I could not help myself."

That earned him a glare. '_I wonder if all Uchihas are jerks,_' she pondered, while turning her attention back to the lightning cascading across the ash-black clouds.

He also turned his head to watch the storm outside. "It reminds me of when I almost drowned when my ship sank," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura looked at him from the corner of her eye, forgetting entirely about being angry with him. She was surprised by his sudden jump into the topic, but she assumed he probably needed to talk about it and had no one else to open up to. She felt almost honored. She turned her body to him and waited for him to continue.

"I don't remember much, but somehow I survived and ended up on a shore right next to an abbey. A young woman brought me there… she saved me," he said, smiling slightly. "I don't even recall her name… if she even told me. I saw her once on the sandy beach before I blacked out and returned here."

Sakura's heart started to beat faster. '_Sasuke-kun…that girl's name was Sakura… and she's sitting right next to you!_' her mind screamed. She did not think he would even remember her, seeing as he was only conscious for a few moments when she was with him, but nonetheless, it filled her with joy to know he did recall her. But why had he not distinguished her as his savior yet? '_His memory must just be foggy,_' she told herself, '_it was dark, stormy and his eyes were probably glazed over from his brush with death._'

"I doubt I'll ever see her again," Sasuke said as he stood up and began walking toward the archway that led into another room. "But if I do, I know I will recognize her," he said, now smiling with a faraway look on his face. "I will never forget her crystal blue eyes or her lemony blonde hair," he said finally as he walked out of the room.

Sakura's heart as felt as if it had split in two. '_He… he thinks that other girl saved him…she was only there when he awoke!_' she exclaimed as something strange began to happen. Her eyes began to sting slightly and it became hard to control her breathing. '_Wha? What's…going on?_' she questioned as she felt a liquid drop slip out of her eye and slide down her cheek. She wiped it onto her finger and smelt it, trying to identify it. Then she brought out her tongue and licked her finger. Her eyes widened as she found out what it was. Even in her heartbroken state, it brought her mouth into a wry smile. The liquid from her eye was salty. It was to remind her where she came from and where she was to always belong.

'_It tells me I will always be one with the sea._'

----------

**Author's Notes**: Goodie goodie gumdrops! I got done with a chapter faster than I thought I would. And it's longer than usual. Hope you all like it. I want to thank all of you for your reviews, the more you all review the faster I'll get done with a chapter, because, like I said, your reviews inspire me. I would also like to thank Microsoft Word for putting up with my numerous spelling errors, that probably would make up 2/3 of the entire story if not for this program. Props to the Word. : )

(Edit) **mfpeach**: I forgot to answer this question at first when I first posted the new chapter, so here's your response. Orochimaru won't be using the voice, but he took it to prevent Sakura from getting what she wants. Orochimaru's the antagonist, I guess, in this story. If Sakura had her voice, she could tell Sasuke all about her feelings, and jog his memory of her. Orochimaru, being the twisted son of a bitch he is, made sure she could not tell him anything, thus giving me a more complicating story to write.


	8. VIII: Harpsichord

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter VIII**: Harpsichord

----------

Sakura, for the next few days, unconsciously avoided Sasuke. When he would walk into a room, she would immediately exit or completely ignore him. Shizune had noticed it the first day and questioned Sakura about it, but the bubble-gum haired girl just smiled and shook her head to show nothing was wrong. Shizune knew she was lying, but chose not to press any further. Sakura was relieved that she did not.

It also seemed someone else noticed Sakura's sudden change in attitude; the older Uchiha brother. Itachi had been sneaking glances at the young woman since she had dropped her joyous moods and smiles to melancholy dispositions and faked smiles. Itachi could not decipher if it was because Sakura was homesick, sick of here, or what… he did not know. Unlike Shizune, Itachi did not realize Sakura's ignorance in his brother, only her mood change. He silently decided he would find out exactly what her problem was, sooner or later.

He opted on sooner.

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Sakura was sitting alone in the library of the castle, reading through some works of fiction by various authors. She had learned more about this world just through the books she had read. She browsed through some books on philosophy, religion, biology, and regular narrative ones. She realized she enjoyed poetry quite a lot, she thought it was written so personally and thoughtfully… and she could even relate to some poems. If she was able to write, she definitely would have tried writing some poems of her own. '_But the fact is that I can't…_' she thought mournfully as she closed the book she was reading and placed it on the shelf.

She let herself fall down on one of the cushioned chairs and sighed, thinking about her current predicament. '_Sasuke-kun thinks that Human girl saved him, and he smiled when he talked about her… does this mean he likes her? How can he! He didn't even exchange words with her!_' She knew she was being a hypocrite now. '_I didn't talk to him either and I still fell in love with him. So ironic…_'

She failed to notice the door open, or the figure that was currently leaning on the door frame, watching her.

'_Maybe Sasuke-kun can learn to love me…I can achieve his love! Perfect plan… but how? Seduction? No, he'd only think of me as a filthy whore…oh what to do?_' She began to pound one of her fists to her forehead trying to get herself to think.

"Don't get mad at your forehead just because it's big," came a cool voice from the back of the room.

Sakura turned her head and noticed Itachi was in the room with her. '_At least it's not Sasuke-kun,_' she thought thankfully. She gave him a questioning look, shook her head, and then turned away from him. '_Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go away._' To her dismay, he did not.

"You seem to be depressed all of a sudden… is our hospitality not good enough for you? If so, I'm sure a brothel in town would love to have you stay. I'm sure they'd be delighted to hear you can't talk…_or scream_," he replied darkly as he strode towards her.

She shook her head several times to answer negatively to all he had asked or said. She could not believe what he just said. She sincerely hoped he had been joking, though he seemed like the type of person without a taste for humor. She became frightened when the room became silent and she could not even hear his movements. Her hair began to stand up on the back of her neck.

"Or you could always stay outside," he whispered right into her ear, causing her to shiver. "What is bothering you, girl? If you say you're happy with our generosity, what could you be moping about that you weren't days ago?" he demanded, gripping slightly at her shoulders. As he expected, silence was the only reply he received. "It's strange, isn't it?" he began, speaking as slyly as Orochimaru had. "How could someone with such obvious high-birth not belong to any neighboring regions? Or be known or recognized by them either?" he questioned, his grip now becoming like a vice.

Sakura became scared. He could do what ever he wanted to her and probably no one would know. No one on the surface knew her, so how could they notice her disappearance? And if the servants, Shizune, or Sasuke asked about her, Itachi could just say that her family came to retrieve her when they were not around. She did not think she was ever so scared as she was at this moment. Her fear started to decline when she felt his hands let go of her shoulders.

"Sasuke." She heard Itachi say, and all her fear disappeared only to be replaced by nervousness.

"What were you doing?" Sasuke demanded, eyeing Itachi carefully.

Itachi shrugged and slowly began walking in the direction of the door. When he stood next to Sasuke at the threshold he finally replied. "We were just talking." He then shoved past Sasuke and out of site.

Sasuke watched the direction in which Itachi walked off many moments after he disappeared. He then came back to reality when he noticed Sakura trying to sneak past him and out of the room. "And where do you think you're going?" he asked, turning towards he as she froze.

She rose her eyes to meet his and just stared, unsure of what to do now. '_I think I was more comfortable with Itachi around._'

"He didn't do anything to you, right?" Sasuke asked, sounding concerned.

Sakura just shook her head, and once more tried to leave the room, only to have Sasuke grab her wrist. She looked at him with confusion written all over her face.

Sasuke just smiled back. "I want to show you something."

----------

Sasuke led her back to the room where they had watched the storm together… and where he had told her about his encounter with the woman who he had _thought_ saved him. The thought still stung her heart and mind.

He brought her over to a large harpsichord, seemingly in the Flemish style.

She stared at it for moments, obviously trying to make out what it was. It was nothing she had ever seen before, yet she felt herself drawn to it.

She watched as Sasuke sat down on the small chair in front of the contraption and patted twice on the small space he left on the seat and Sakura sat down. Sasuke smiled as started to talk. "It's a harpsichord, Sakura-san. An instrument, just like a harp or a flute," he explained, gesturing toward the harpsichord in front of them. He then pressed down on a few of the keys and Sakura's eyes widened as she heard the most melodic sound she had ever heard; even more beautiful than the songs of the whales. Sasuke smiled at her reaction. He then began playing some simple songs he knew from the lessons he had taken when he was a child. He watched as Sakura smiled a real smile for the first time in the last few days. He then stopped and took her hands in his, playing them on the keys.

'_What's he doing?_' she silently wondered.

He then began guiding her hands through the keys, teaching her the basics of playing the instrument. He also explained a lot to her about the harpsichord, not just how to play it. How it was made, who made it, and how pressing down on the keys created the notes.

"You try now," he told her as he took his hands off hers.

Sakura eyes became saucers. '_On my own?_' she mentally exclaimed, doubting herself. Even though she did not want to, though, she still tried. Her fingers often hit the wrong key or two keys by accident when she tried replaying one of the songs Sasuke played earlier. If Sasuke did not help her with the melody, she surely would not have gotten any part of the song correct; she might have just resorted to randomly hitting keys.

Sasuke smiled when she was finished. "You're good… for your first try anyway," he said sheepishly. "Let's try again."

----------

She and Sasuke practiced until nightfall came. They had even skipped dinner just to continue undisturbed. Sakura began getting better, she was able to play simple songs by memory, without any help from Sasuke, but she still hit wrong keys every so often.

"I can't believe it is already dark out. It's amazing how time flies, don't you think?" he asked as he got to his feet and stretched, then put his hand out to help Sakura up too.

Sakura nodded to his question while a slight blush tinged her face when he offered his hand, which she gratefully accepted. '_Time flies when I'm with you, Sasuke-kun._' She yawned and felt her eyes slightly water from it.

Sasuke chuckled. "It seems I have kept you too long, Sakura-san. You're probably dying for exhaustion; I think I worked you too hard," he smiled as he began walking her to her room.

"If you enjoyed doing this, I'm sure we can practice again tomorrow, if you'd like?" he asked as they walked up the steps.

Sakura nodded excitedly. '_Of course, Sasuke-kun!_'

Sasuke smirked. "Then I'll work you extra hard tomorrow. Expect no mercy," he warned her.

If Sakura could giggle, she would have done so at that moment. When she turned her attention back to the world around them, she realized they had reached her room.

"Good night," he said with… regret in his voice?

She nodded to show she returned the words and opened her door.

"Wait…" she heard him say. And just as she turned back to him, she felt his lips against her cheek. He eyes widened considerably and she felt herself go rigid.

When he pulled back he began to walk away. "Good night, Sakura," he told her again.

'_He called me 'Sakura', not 'Sakura-san'…_' her mind whispered as she unconsciously walked into her room. She quickly undressed and got into her sleeping gown. She ushered herself into sleep with the event of Sasuke's kiss running through her head.

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**Author's Notes**: Another chapter complete, more to go. I really wanted to make the instrument a piano, but I checked the history on the piano and it came into play somewhere in the 1700s, whereas this story takes place a few centuries prior… so I had to make it a harpsichord. Oh well, it's still good.

**Mfpeach**: I have yet to decide what I'm going to do about that. I really don't want her to, but I kinda want to stay true to the story… maybe I'll change a few things around… I'll just have to see.

**ThisIsMyLifeToLive**: Thank-you! I'm glad you're enjoying it. No, sadly Sakura won't be getting her voice back, though I would like her too.

**Aznmelon**: It's getting there. : ) I want the relationship to grow, not be spontaneous.

**Cette-FILES**: He will, eventually, though it's still a ways off from the current point in the story.

**Please keep reviewing, I like reading what you think of my story and the new installments. : D**


	9. IX: Visit to Town

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter IX**: Visit to Town

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She did not know how long she had been staying at the castle with the Uchiha siblings; days, weeks, months, she did not know, nor did she care. Things were finally getting better for her, and she no longer questioned if what she had done to get here was right or wrong. Sasuke and she began to spend more time together, and she started to suspect that he shared her feelings… at least to a point. He kept his word and helped her practice playing the harpsichord and she loved every moment of it, not only because she was close to Sasuke, but that she truly enjoyed playing the instrument. He taught her to read music notes, and what keys corresponded to which notes and how to tell the rhythm of the music and how long to hold out a note for. She at first thought this was the hardest thing she had ever had to learn, but she soon found out it was quite easy. Most of the day, if she was not in the library, in the garden, or helping Shizune with some of her chores, she would play the harpsichord, determined to get better.

The older Uchiha brother, Itachi, had not bothered her since that time in the library, and she hardly saw him either. The only time she saw him was at breakfast and sometimes dinner, never lunch. She always wondered where he disappeared off to, but she was always glad to be as far away from him as possible. After he had interrogated her like he did, she thought she developed Itachi-phobia. Sakura did not even look up to his eyes when she saw him, or passed him in the hall; she kept her eyes plastered on the floor beneath her.

'_Creepy son of a bitch,_' she mentally muttered as she finished practicing another piece on the harpsichord. The sun was now just ascending above the water, the light coming in floods through the Byzantine-style clerestory windows. '_Have I been practicing for that long already?_' she questioned, closing the music book in front of her. She had been practicing ever since she had first awoken, just when the indigo skies had begun to fade into lighter blues and teal-greens. Sakura covered her mouth with her right hand as she yawned.

"Sakura-san!" she heard Shizune call through the halls, obviously oblivious to where she was. "Sakura-san!" she heard a moment later.

Sakura sighed and played a few notes on the harpsichord loudly, to indicate to Shizune where she was. '_I'm surprised she did not hear me playing earlier,_' she thought.

"There you are, Sakura-san!" Shizune exclaimed as she walked into the room. "Breakfast is ready. Come and eat before Sasuke and Itachi get into an eating contest," she scoffed, as she led Sakura to the kitchen.

Sakura smiled at Shizune's humor, but even the funnier thing was, what she had said was true. It happened on more than one occastion that Itachi and Sasuke tried to best each other through eating. Sakura loved when they did it, she found entertainment out of it.

Itachi and Sasuke were already seated at the table, no food had been touched yet. It was the way it always was in the morning, afternoon, and evening; they would not eat until she was present. It was what they called: 'common mannerism'. Even though she thought it was ridiculous to make them wait for her before eating they continued, but overtime, she grew used to it.

Shizune pulled out her chair, waited for her to sit, and then pushed the chair back into place. "Enjoy your meal," she said before leaving the room, to do chores, most likely.

"Itadakimasu!" the trio muttered before they began to eat.

Sakura took a bite out of her bread roll that was spread over with some fruit jam. It was her favorite morning food ever since she first tried it during the first few days of her stay. She also had a hard boiled egg with some salt sprinkled in a light dose over it.

"Sakura, I plan on going to town today for some updates on news, and of course to show you around," Sasuke mentioned casually, after swallowing the bread from one of the rolls. "That is," he continued, "if you _want_ to go."

Sakura looked at him as if he were mad. '_Why wouldn't I want to go, I've been cramped in this castle for who knows how long, of course I wanna go!_' her mind exclaimed, but no one would have ever known what she was thinking after she gave a slow and refined nod.

"When do you plan on returning?" Itachi asked as he knit his fingers together just below his nose while his elbows were set up on the table.

Sasuke shrugged. "Probably around or after night fall. I want to show Sakura the theatre in town. Maybe she will want to see a play?" he said, sneaking a glance to the pink-haired girl across the table.

She returned the sneaky glance, all while smiling.

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Sakura watched in amazement at the passing scenery from the stagecoach's window. She watched carefully, trying to take in everything she saw. There were flying creatures all throughout the forest, singing songs. Sakura assumed they were birds just from the books she read on biology.

Sasuke wondered how she could find so much enjoyment from a simple ride through a forest. He watched as her expression changed each time she noticed something she did not see before. If he did not know better he would have thought she just came out from a house she was locked in for her whole life; never once outside. He had to smile at her antics. "Having fun?" he asked as she jumped slightly by his sudden vocation; obviously startled.

Sakura flustered but quickly recovered and answered with her often used nods. She waited to see if he had anything else to say, when she realized he did not, she turned back to the window and continued her gazing. She was overly surprised when the carriage finally reached the town. The streets were cobblestone, just like the castle bridge's path. All around the town were countless Humans; chattering, haggling, gossiping, arguing, and of course shopping. There were even more here than there were on Sasuke's ship, and it astonished her to no end. What she noticed most was that most of their clothes were not like the ones she had seen being worn on the women on the ship; these women's clothing were dull in color, and had patches, tears, and stains all over them. She then tried to remember what one of her narrative books had called people like this. '_Commoners, street rats, the poor…_' she recalled.

Finally, the stagecoach stopped and the driver came around to open the door. Sasuke stepped out first and then held his hand out to help Sakura out also.

'_I'm not stupid… I know how to get out,_' she thought almost angrily, but she took his hand nonetheless.

"Uchiha-sama, what time would you like me to meet you back here at?" the driver asked.

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Meet us back here at sunset. If we're not here, please wait," Sasuke said as he and Sakura began to walk away.

The driver nodded and bowed, even though Sasuke was not looking anymore.

"Much to see," Sasuke said as he looked around. "Now what should we see first?" he asked Sakura. "There will be a play in the theatre in about an hour, I can show you some great shops and bakeries, or I can just tour you around the town," he said, looking at her while she determined an answer.

Sakura thought long and hard about what she wanted to do first. Then she made her choice and she held up her pointer finger, signaling "1".

Sasuke smirked. "That's what I though you would pick," he said. "I hope there's a good play today," he muttered as he took her by the hand, leading her with him.

----------

The play had let out sometime after noon. Sakura had never seen such a performance in all her life. Sure, she had seen plays done back where she lived, but there was just something magical about the way the Humans went about in their plays. They seemed so… in character and devoted to their role; as if they had rehearsed the role their entire life, perfecting it. She was still grinning, even several minutes after the play had ended and they had went to get some food for lunch.

Sasuke bought two rolls for each of them and a fried fish to be shared. Then they took the food, and ate their small lunch on the sitting platform that surrounded the town's large fountain.

Though she was not that hungry, Sakura still ate all of what Sasuke had bought for her; the rolls and her half of the fried fish.

"You enjoyed the play, right?" she heard Sasuke address her for the first time since the play ended.

Sakura smiled but not nodding; he still got the answer.

"I'm glad. I thought you might not have liked it, that maybe it was different from the entertainment you're used to," he said, cleaning up the plate from the fish.

She followed him as he returned the plate back to the owner of the fish shop. '_He makes good fish. It's much better than raw fish,_' she noted, still tasting the taste of the fish in her mouth.

Sasuke and she began just casually walking around the streets, with Sakura admiring the shops they pasted.

----------

It was not long before gossip began to brew amongst the women who saw the young Uchiha prince pass by with the lovely young women. Sakura's cheeks tinted as she heard some of the whispers about her being his lover. '_If only it were true,_' she thought mournfully. She then wondered if Sasuke had heard any of what some of the women and even men said. If he did, he did not show it. She sighed. '_I wonder if he thinks the kiss he gave me was a mistake,_' she thought as her mood began to darken. He small smile disappeared as her face retained a solemn expression.

Sasuke was quick to notice her change in attitude. "Are you feeling ill?" he asked as he stopped her to get a closer look at her.

She shook her head but for once, she did not smile at him when responding. '_I'm not ill to the standards you speak of, Sasuke-kun_,' she thought as she looked away from his ebony eyes.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but ended up closing it a second later. He decided to talk with her later, when they returned to the privacy of the castle.

----------

The rest of the day spent was quiet, except when Sasuke gave her a tour of the town. He gave her histories on some of the land marks and specific places around it. For example, the fountain was the site for a murder of a brothel girl.

She had listened closely to his explanations and to all the details he gave her, so she could paint her own picture of the event happening.

When the sun began to set, Sasuke and Sakura returned to the spot where they began in the morning, and sure enough, the driver was waiting for them along with the carriage.

The ride home was dark and most of all quiet. Sakura was not bothered as much by the silence as Sasuke was. He was determined to figure out what had caused her sudden change in attitude. He wondered if it was what the villagers were gossiping about. Then he wondered if she was bothered by what they said about him and her… about being lovers. He speculated if she was repulsed by the idea of a relationship between them. Maybe there was already someone else. Then Itachi popped into his head. They were alone together in the library that day; it did look suspicious. But then he pushed the outrageous thought into the confines of his mind. Itachi was never around, and Sakura spent most of her time with him. _Most of the day time_, his mind reminded him. Sasuke was now thunderstruck. _Itachi could visit her in the night… doing God knows what,_ his mind ventured further. Sasuke could not believe what his mind was implying, and what was worse was that he began to suspect it as fact. It could not be true, he thought. Could it?

----------

Sasuke, like he usually did, walked Sakura to her room before he retired to his. And like any other night he said "Good night" to her before he disappeared into the darkness as she did the same, only into her room.

She stripped out of her gown and proceeded to dress into her night gown. She pulled back the covers of the bed and climbed into it, lying on her side and trying to fall asleep. However, sleep did not come as soon as she would have liked. Her eyes remained open, watching the shadows of the trees in the moonlight sway back and forth to the summer breeze. She laid there for about a half-hour just watching the moving shadows, sleep unable to claim her. She heard a silent knock at her door that made her bolt upright in her bed. '_Who could it be at this hour?_' she wondered, she was never disturbed after everyone knew she had gone to bed. She pulled on a robe, trying to make herself look at least a tad bit decent, and then she moved to the door. At first she thought it was all just a figment of her imagination, but she opened the door anyway.

At first she did not see anything; it was too dark in the hall. She went to close the door, but something pressed hard against the wood, preventing it.

"Sakura, I need to talk with you," came the reply from the darkness of the hall.

It was Sasuke. His voice sent shivers down her spine as he spoke; his voice sounding as smooth as steel.

Sakura moved aside to let him through. She watched as his dark form walked into the light coming in from the large windows. She then closed the door and turned to him, waiting for an explanation to his intrusion.

"Sakura…I need to know… are you and Itachi… involved?" he asked carefully, unsure of how to word what he was trying to get at.

Sakura stared at him. '_Involved… with that… crazy son of a bitch!_' she exclaimed as she practically gaped at Sasuke. She then shook her head frantically. '_What the hell are you thinking, Sasuke-kun?_'

Sasuke looked relieved. "I had thought… I mean what you were doing in the library… it was wrong to assume," he stumbled, now embarrassed at his conjecture.

Sakura smiled wry at him and slowly stalked over to him and hugged him, to show him that she was not angry at him for his assumption.

At first, he was tense, but he then relaxed into it and he too wrapped his arms around her frame, bringing her closer to him. He placed his head into her stands of pink and inhaled. He guessed she would have smelt like cherry blossoms, but she smelled like lavender instead. He ran his fingers through the hair, untangling slight knots as he did so. "Sakura…" he whispered into her ear.

She shivered once more as he spoke. His breath tickled at her ear. '_Sasuke-kun, what does this mean?_' she questioned… even though she knew he could not hear her query. She felt him pull slightly out of the embrace and she looked up at him. Then his face drew closer to hers, lips just a hair apart.

"What is this feeling I get when I am around you, Sakura? Why did I feel jealously rise within me when I thought you had a relationship with Itachi? Why do I have to fight with myself to keep my hands off you when you're around?" he asked, watching her eyes very carefully. He did not even give her a chance to reply; because she froze the moment his cold lips met hers.

She watched with wide eyes as his eyes closed and continued the soft, chaste kiss. She followed his example, and closed her eyes also. Her eyes widened once more when she felt something wet run across her lip. She gasped and before she could do anything, Sasuke deepened the kiss. His tongue explored her mouth, tasting every corner of it, memorizing it. Sakura, after over coming shock, closed her eyes and began to move her tongue against Sasuke's. She heard him moan as she did so and felt him tangle his tongue with hers. Finally Sasuke ended the kiss, and watched as Sakura regained her breath.

After salvaging her composure, she looked up at him. '_Sasuke-kun, it was wonderful,_' she thought to herself.

Sasuke smirked and brought her into a chaste kiss. "Good night, Sakura. See you in the morning," he said after ending the kiss. He walked out the door and closed it behind him, leaving her once more to deal with her personal thoughts in the darkness.

'_Does this mean he returns my feelings?_'

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**Author's Notes**: Tried to do a longer chapter for you guys. I was hit with some minor forms of writer's block. But other than that, this chapter wrote itself… actually, my lemonade did most of it, it's my version of caffeine. Thank you everyone for the kind reviews on the last chapter.

**UchihaCrystalz**: Orochimaru works in a twisted way. He knew that if he let Sakura use her voice, she would win Sasuke's heart and thus win against his planned plot to get her to fail. He never helps someone to succeed. He helps them to get what they want… at least for a little while, and then he watches them fail. Like I said to mfpeach, he's a twisted son of a bitch. He has no real use for the voice, it's just to ensure Sakura's failure.

**SillyMail**: Heheh, I'm trying to keep Itachi in character, dark and mysterious. Even though I think I got a little OOC with anger, 'cause he seems calm to me.

**Once again, thanks for your commentary of chapter 8, I hope you liked this one too. Don't forget to leave a review, even if it just says "good story"; I like to hear it. :D**


	10. X: The Letter

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter X**: The Letter

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Sasuke sat at his desk in his room carefully going through letters and invitations he received often. He wiped sweat off his brow as he sealed another letter with wax and pressed it with the Uchiha family seal. It was already the middle of summer and it was unbearably hot. If he did not have so much work on his hands as of late, he would have found some time to swim in the shallow water of the ocean for a bit. He also did not have enough time to spend with Sakura which he regretted; but she did not seem to mind. She also seemed much happier ever since he had visited her that night.

He glanced out the window quickly. It was already fading into twilight, to his dismay. He had put off all his work just so he could spend his time with Sakura, which proved to be a win-lose situation. Sure it soothed his hormones, but it just made the work load even worse.

He stopped reading the current letter when there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he said, putting the letter down.

The door opened to reveal Neji. He did not say anything at first, just stepped in and closed the door behind him. He then searched through his inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a letter. "Uchiha-sama, a letter was just delivered from town. It's from your parents," he relayed as he handed the white envelope to Sasuke.

"That's odd; they usually don't bug Itachi or I over summer…Any idea what they want?" Sasuke wondered, opening the letter cautiously.

Neji just shrugged as Sasuke started reading the note.

When finished, Sasuke shoved the small paper inside his over coat pocket, crumpling it. He got up, without a second glance at the pile of papers on his desk, and practically stormed out of the room.

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"Did you know _anything_ about this?" Sasuke demanded, slamming the wrinkled letter down in front of Itachi on his table.

Itachi grazed his eyes over it. "Hm, I did not think they would go that far," he mumbled, trying to sound surprised, but all that came out was arrogance.

If possible, Sasuke grew angrier. "What did you tell them!" he spat, grabbing Itachi by the collar of his shirt.

Itachi just smirked and peeled his brother's tight grip off easily and calmly. "I just sent them a letter telling them about how we were doing, how everything in this region was going, and, of course, I told them about our little visitor," he said as a triumphant gleam shone in his eyes.

Sasuke was ready to punch him, but held himself back. "This is ridiculous. How can they do this to me! It's not even fair," he said as he pounded his fists on the table, sending strong vibrations through it that even Itachi felt.

Itachi scoffed. "They wrote they desire for you to go through with everything, but they won't oblige you to do anything; you're lucky they're giving you a choice."

Sasuke's mood lightened slightly by what his brother said, even though his brother said it with regret. Sasuke sneered. "I'm not lucky, Itachi. It's because I'm the favorite." And with that said, Sasuke strode out of the room, leaving Itachi slightly irritated.

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Sasuke found Sakura where he thought he would find her, in the library; she often did not play the harpsichord at night.

Sakura looked up from her book at the sound of the door opening and smiled as she noticed it was Sasuke whom was now in her presence.

"Sakura, I want to have a word with you," he said as he took a seat on the couch near the door and pat the space next to him and she stood up from her chair and sat in the indicated spot. He brought her into a loving embrace and laid his head against her left breast, listening to the steady beat of her heart that began to get faster upon contact. "I got a letter today, from my parents," he started.

Sakura began to wonder what this was all about.

"They want me to get married," he continued, almost certain he heard her heart stop for a few moments.

Sakura went rigid. Her mind automatically recalled all what Orochimaru had said. "…_If you fail to win your lover's heart and he marries another… the morning after the wedding, your heart will break, and you will turn into the foam on the crest of waves the moment the sun's rays touch your skin…"_ She could feel the salt water begin to sting at her eyes. '_He can't…he wouldn't…not after all this…_' she questioned as the tears broke out of her eyes and slid down her cheek. One fell of her cheek and onto Sasuke's forehead.

He looked up and was surprised to see Sakura crying. Instinctively, he brought up his hand and wiped away her tears. "Don't cry, Sakura. You never let me finish," he said, smiling. "They _want_ me to get married, but they won't force me to. I could never love her; the only woman I truly want as my bride would be the woman who saved me from drowning, but I doubt I'll ever see her again. If I were compelled to choose a bride, I would rather choose you, Sakura," he said, tightening the embrace he was giving her.

She felt relieved. She no longer felt threatened, and it felt as though weights had been lifted of her shoulders. '_He said he would marry me if he had to choose!_' she squealed mentally as she returned the hug with equal vigor.

"I want you to come with me to see the princess," he muttered, lifting his head from her chest.

She bobbed her head while smiling. '_I will follow you anywhere, as long as you allow it,_' she thought happily.

He returned the smile, just not as greatly. He then groaned. "I better go; I still have mountains of work to finish. We should be leaving in a few days, so get a start of packing," he conveyed to her before exiting the room.

She stood up to return to the chair she was previously sitting in, but before she could make another move, she noticed a paper drifted from her lap and swayed to the floor like a feather falling in a light breeze. '_What's this?_' she thought as she picked it up. '_It must've fallen out of Sasuke-kun's pocket,_' she concluded. Though she knew it was wrong, she began to read it.

"_Dear Sasuke, _

_We were very surprised to hear from Itachi and I must say we were very taken aback when he told us about the woman you have been taking care of. I hope you realize you probably have so much gossip buzzing in the towns about you and that woman, and frankly we don't need any of it. They probably already think of it as scandalous. _

_Your father and I have decided you are of age to begin measuring out suitors for yourself and we hope you start to think about marriage. We have already picked out a lovely candidate for you to view. We are not going to force you to marry her, but we would like for you to at least meet her._

_Her family rules over the land west of our kingdom and their main castle is also on a port, so the simplest transportation there would be by water. Her name is Yamanaka Ino and she is close within your age range. It is said she is very beautiful and I'm sure she would be a perfect match for you, so I urge you to at least just meet with her and her family. We will be waiting at there castle, so please don't ignore this letter, we hope to see you soon!_"

_Sincerely,_

_Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto_

'_Yamanaka Ino…a perfect match for Sasuke-kun?_' Sakura thought as she reread the entire letter. She shook her head. '_Sasuke said he couldn't love her; she's not the one whom saved him…though the one whom he thought saved him didn't save him either. He should be marrying me. If only he knew,_' she inwardly sighed. She walked over to the fireplace and tossed the letter into the hot flames. '_If only he knew it was me,_' she thought as she sat into the chair and picked up the book and began reading once more.

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**Author's Notes**: Hope you like this chapter, we're getting towards the end of the story; only about 2 or 3 chapters to go.

**ThisIsMyLifeToLive**: The mermaid had 3 days in the Disney version. My fanfic is based on the actual story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, sorry for the confusion. And thanks!

**Meme**: Thanks a lot:D Seductive? xD Heehee. I just wanted to incorporate some romance into the story, which I did not think I was capable of writing.

Alright, you got your update, now you just have to wait for the next one, which will come sooner, I promise. I was just busy 'cause I wasn't home in like the last 4 days.

Don't forget to drop a review off:heart:


	11. XI: Wedding Bells

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter XI**: Wedding Bells

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Sakura felt slightly sick in the pit of her stomach as the ship continuously rocked back and forth with the waves. To her it was ironic, to be born of the sea and become sick from it. But the sick feeling in her stomach was not from only just the ships movement, she also felt… threatened? Or maybe she even felt dread upon reaching the Yamanaka kingdom. '_I'm being paranoid… Sasuke-kun said himself that the only woman he could possibly love is that blonde human on the beach,_' she reasoned, trying to make the horrible sensation pass. '_And if he never finds that girl…he might choose me._' Sakura smiled slightly. She still had a chance. And even if she did not marry him, it was very unlikely that he would find he blonde girl and Sakura could stay with him forever.

They had been on the ship for days and not once had Sakura traveled to the upper deck to glance at the sights passing by. But Sakura already knew the sight that would welcome her if she went up there. Endless blue skies and sea, but Sakura had witnessed enough of both sights, and kept to herself within her cabin.

Sakura sighed. '_I just want Sasuke-kun to see Yamanaka-san, tell her he's not interested, we can go back home, and then these sickening feelings will disperse,_' she told herself as though she thought it was going to be as simple as that, but in the deepest recess of her heart, she knew it would not happen like that. Something was going to happen… something she wouldn't be able to control… something—

Just then an abrupt knock sounded at the door. Quickly, Sakura got up and opened it to find Sasuke standing there. She stood aside from the threshold to invite him in but he merely shook his head.

"I just wanted to let you know that we've reached sight of the port. We'll probably be docking soon. I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay on the ship, this 'meeting' of sorts is relatively private. I hope you don't mind, I'll be back as soon as it's over," he said, gauging Sakura's reaction. Like he had expected, she smiled and shook her head, signaling she did not mind.

Sasuke returned her smile, left the room closing the wooden door behind him.

Sakura sat back down in the chair by the window and watched as they neared the docks.

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"Sasuke, we had not expected you for another two days!" his mother greeted. "I hope the summer is well for you?" she asked, but when she didn't receive an answer she turned to greet her other son. "Ah, Itachi, I really did not anticipate that you were coming as well."

Itachi just shrugged. "I suppose I just missed you and father," he said, though anyone could tell he did not mean it.

Mikoto gave a meaningful glance towards her eldest child, but then looked away. "We'd better hurry, Inoichi-san has probably already heard of your arrival; let's not keep him and his daughter waiting."

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"Ah, so this is your son is it, Fugaku-san? Forgive me, but I'm delighted to know he looks nothing like you!" the one blonde in the room laughed, standing up from his chair to better evaluate Sasuke. "You're nothing like I expected you to be, Sasuke," he said truthfully.

Sasuke scowled slightly at the man who circled him like a vulture. "Is that a good thing?" he asked.

Inoichi only laughed. "Oh course! Well, I think you've had a long enough journey, and I'm sure you don't want me to loom around you for much longer, so let's get on with business. Nurse! You may bring Ino in now," he called to a door on the opposite side of the room.

It opened and two women filed into the room. An older woman was in front, she looked to be about forty or fifty and a younger woman with long blonde hair followed timidly behind her.

Sasuke could only see the nurse at first, but once she moved aside he finally got to see the woman whom his parents wished him to marry. His eyes then widened at the sight of the girl in from of him. The blonde hair… the ice blue eyes… it was _her_. Sasuke just stared as he evaluated the blonde. This was the same young woman who saved him that day on the beach. Yamanaka Ino and his mystery savior was the same person. "Y-y-you..." his voice stumbled out.

At the sound of his voice, Ino raised her eyes to look up. When her azure eyes met his black ones in a locking gaze, she did her best to stifle a gasp. "You're the one who washed up on the beach… it's you!" she said as her surprised expression never faded from her face.

Suddenly, Sasuke found himself walking towards the young woman and without a moment's hesitation; he brought her into an embrace.

Ino stiffened to the sudden contact at first, but then relaxed into Sasuke's arms and returned his hug.

"I thought… I thought I would never find you again. But here you are," Sasuke mumbled into her ear, so only she could hear it.

Inoichi, Fugaku, and Mikoto looked upon the scene playing out in front of them. The three adults didn't say anything or move, in fear of ruining the moment that they hadn't expected would take place.

Sasuke was quiet for many moments, and all Ino could hear and feel was his breath at her ear. Then she felt him draw in a breath and begin talking once more. "Ino…" he said slowly as he softly stroked her hair softly. "Ino, will you marry me?"

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Sakura remained seated in the same chair by the window as she did the moment Sasuke left. Even though she was impatient for his return, she didn't show it. '_How long does it take to say no to getting married?_' she wondered as her eyes followed one of the seagulls that flew past the window. Just as she was about to let out another exasperated sigh, her cabin door swung open, and Sasuke bounded in.

She immediately stood up from the chair and turned to him to see what was with his sudden outburst. Before she could even bring her eyes to his, he brought her into a tight hold.

"I found her, Sakura, I found her," he said as he unconsciously tightened the embrace he was giving Sakura. "The woman who saved me that day, months ago, it was really Yamanaka Ino," he exclaimed as he let the petal-haired woman out of the embrace.

Sakura went rigid. Now more than ever she wished she had her voice; just to tell him that she was the one who saved him. He should be marrying _her_ not this 'Ino'. _She_ was the one who pulled him from the depths of the dark ocean. It was _her_ who traveled over countless miles of sea just to save him. _Sakura_, not Ino, delivered him from Death's grasp to the warm beach he was found on. Sakura wanted so badly to cry right now but she couldn't, not with Sasuke here. She held back her tears and gave him a small smile, trying to ensure him that she was happy for him, even though she knew she was lying to herself.

"I'm sorry I can't stay any longer, I have to get ready. We're having the wedding immediately; tonight!" he said as he brought her into another small hug before he left the room as quickly as he came. Although he thought he was leaving a woman who was as happy for him as everyone else was he was in reality leaving a heart broken one behind.

The moment the door closed with a soft 'click' Sakura's knees gave in and she dropped to the floor, all the while tears were streaming down her cheeks. She waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps before she allowed sobs to wretch through her entire body as tears cascaded down her cheeks in an endless waterfall. She didn't care what Orochimaru had said; her heart felt like it was breaking _now_.It was truly a disheartening sight to see.

Everything she worked for crumbled. She lost. Everyone else was happy except her. '_Tomorrow morning…when dawn breaks…_' a strong sob strangled her thoughts before she could complete them. In the end, she was not going to live a happily ever after. She was not going to be carried away into the sunset with her lover. She was not going to receive the love of another ever again. She was going to die when morning came; when the first rays of the sun touched her skin, she would fade away and become nothing more than a memory. The very thought brought more tears to her eyes (if possible). '_I suppose I am more like a cherry blossom than I had thought; we both live such short lives. But they will bloom again and I—will not. Otou-san, obaasan, sisters, Naruto-kun…I've been so foolish. Somehow I knew all along that I would never succeed, but still I tried…I am so sorry…I will never see any of you agai—_' it was then that she remembered about what Naruto had told her the last time she had seen him.

"_Sakura-chan, make sure it is at night, with a moon… Reflect the moon's light from your pin to far out into the sea, I will watch for it every night._"

She hoped he would be watching for it tonight as well. She had to let him know of the events. She would not be able to bear it if she hadn't at least said good bye to her best friend.

She wiped the salty tears away with the sleeve of her dress and stood up, albeit a bit unsteady. She left the room once she regained her composure. She would wait on the docks until nightfall… then she would signal for Naruto.

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**Author's Notes**: Sorry for the lag with the update. I didn't know exactly how I wanted to compose this chapter, so I put it off a bit. I actually finished it, but accidentally forgot to save it. Stupid me. Anyway, here you all go, I hope to get the next chapter out sooner, but don't hold my word; I might get lazy. :D

Thank-you everyone for the reviews; I really enjoyed reading them. I'm glad you're all enjoying this fanfic. More reviews are always adored.

Stay tuned for the next chapter, I hope to have it out within the next week. Until then, bye:)


	12. XII: Naruto's Say

**Title**: Love Between Land and Sea

**Rating**: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

**Pairings**: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

**Summary**: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

**Chapter XII**: Naruto's Say

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Sakura sat on the docks with her knees brought up to her chin and her hands clasped around them. She silently wondered if the wedding had begun yet. The sun had long since gone down; now she was just waiting for the moon to be bright enough. She prayed Naruto would come to her call. If he didn't…she would never get to say good bye.

The very thought brought more tears to her eyes. The pain in her heart was becoming unbearable. '_Why couldn't I have just stayed where I belonged? I'm so stupid,_' she thought. '_I thought I could do this…I thought I could get him to accept me…Stupid, stupid, STUPID!_' she mentally yelled at herself, eliciting more tears.

She finally calmed herself down when she realized it was much darker out and the moon shone its white light all across the ocean. Wiping the stray tears away, Sakura slipped the flower pin out of her hair and held it up. It took her a few tries but she finally got it to shine.

'_I hope he sees it,_' she thought. Now all she had to do was wait.

One minute…two minutes…ten minutes…twenty minutes…He didn't see the signal. He was not going to come.

'_I-it's understandable,_' she choked on a sob as she tried her best to keep her thoughts straight. '_He was probably only watching for the signal to come from Sasuke-kun's castle…not from here,_' she thought. '_I should have—_'

"Sakura-chaaaaan!" a familiar and loud voice shouted, breaking the serenity of the night around them.

Sakura immediately laid her eyes on the blonde who was currently swimming his way towards the edge of the wooden dock where she sat. She had never been happier to see him in her life.

"I was just coming to see you! Luckily I saw the signal while I was swimming! What's this I hear about a wedding and you don't even invite me! I thought we were best—" he immediately stopped talking when he finally got close enough to see her face. Her eyes were puffy and stray tears were still sliding slowly down her flushed cheeks. "Sakura-chan?" he asked tentatively.

Her green orbs locked with his light blue ones and she attempted one of the smiles she always gave him, but she failed miserably.

"He's—Y-y-you're joking…you have to be—if he's…marrying someone else…th-th-then that means you'll—NO! You can't die, Sakura-chan. You just can't!" he said as he lifted his hands to touch her no longer clasped ones. He held onto them and squeezed reassuringly. "H-Hinata-chan and I are going to be married soon," he said, closing his eyes as to not let any tears escape. "I proposed to her not too long ago…a-and Anko and Kakashi married already. Everyone thinks she's expecting."

Sakura, trying to set the mood a little lighter, laughed faintly. The thought of her eldest sister having children didn't sound right for some reason to Sakura. '_Probably because of the way I have viewed her all these years._'

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up after her laughter faded. A few tears broke his vision, but he smiled. "Hard to believe, right?" he replied, following her example of trying to brighten the mood. These were, after all, probably the last moments they would ever spend together.

In the distance she heard her name being called. Instinctively, she let go of Naruto's hands and stood up.

"Sakura-chan, what's going—" but he stopped talking when she raised a finger to her lips.

Sakura turned around and came face to face with the man she really did not want to see right now; Sasuke.

'_Isn't he supposed to be getting married?_' she questioned mentally as she stared into his endless black eyes.

"Sakura, the wedding's going to be starting soon," he started, not noticing Sakura stiffening at the mention of the wedding. "Aren't you going to come?" he asked.

"No, she isn't going to come," Sakura froze when she heard Naruto reply for her.

'_Naruto-kun, you idiot…_' she thought, just hoping that Sasuke went deaf in the last seven seconds.

He looked beyond Sakura for a second and then back at her. "Who was that?" he inquired.

Of course, Sakura didn't answer, but she also didn't point Naruto out. All she did was shake her head.

"Wow, Sakura-chan," Naruto started, "you didn't tell me that Uchiha-teme was stupid, too."

'_Just shut up, just shut up, just shut up…_' she chanted in her head.

This time, Sasuke pushed past her and walked to the edge of the docks. There he finally saw the source of the obnoxious remarks. "Isn't it a little late to be swimming?" he asked, unaware of the fact that Naruto was not Human.

Naruto just glared up at the dark haired male, a few tears trailing down his cheeks. "How can you talk so casually? Or aren't you even aware of what you have done?" Naruto spat, never breaking eye contact with Sasuke.

Sasuke just looked at the blonde. "What I've done?" he repeated, almost in a thoughtful tone. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto just chose to ignore him after his response. "C'mon, Sakura-chan," he said, moving his eyes to her. "Climb on my back. I'm sure if we go now, we can reach the surface above the palace before sunrise."

When Sakura didn't respond, Sasuke did.

"What? You'll drown if you expect to swim out into the ocean while carrying someone on your back," he exclaimed.

Naruto glared again at him. Against better judgment, Naruto raised his blue tail out of the water and flipped it around a bit for Sasuke to see.

Sasuke just stared at the tail, mute for words.

"I'm not like you. Neither is Sakura," Naruto explained. "I'm going to take her as close to home as she can go so she can d-die peacefully, with her family," he said as his voice broke slightly.

Sasuke then turned his head towards Sakura. "Die? She can't die… she's not even ill," he uttered in pure disbelief.

Naruto glowered up at the Uchiha. "Illness has nothing to do with it, Uchiha-teme. Besides, it's your fault anyway," he said, hatred dripping in each word. Before Sasuke could even respond, Naruto continued. "Sakura-chan sold her voice to what might as well be the devil's incarnation just so she could be with you. But he also gave her a sort of time limit. If you were ever to marry someone else… on the morning after the wedding Sakura would die. And can you guess what tomorrow is?" he explained.

Sasuke just looked from Sakura to Naruto. "You expect me to believe this?" Sasuke laughed. "Merpeople? Spells? Absolute ludicrous. Besides, if this _were_ true, how would Sakura even know me? I don't believe I've ever met a mermaid before," he said as he laughed some more.

Naruto growled. "Who do you think saved you from drowning?"

Sasuke smirked. "I know who saved me. Yamana—"

"You think that, that blonde bitch showed up in the middle of the ocean and swam you to safety? All she did was find you on the beach when Sakura-chan had to leave you. You think the currents of the ocean carried you over those countless miles to safety in that short a period of time? Sakura-chan saw the ship go down and immediately dove into the water looking for you. Once she found you, she hoisted you on her back and swam you to safety," he paused for a moment to look at Sakura, who was currently looking at her feet, wringing her hands. "She stayed with you on that beach until past sunrise…until the flock of Humans came out of the building; then she left you," Naruto finished, trying to gauge the Uchiha's reaction.

Sasuke was silent. It did all make sense…but the idea of half human half fish people living in the ocean was ridiculous.

"Was that explanation enough for you? Can we go now?" Naruto said impatiently.

"Do you have any more proof?" Sasuke replied, almost surprising himself that he was slowly buying into this.

Naruto thought for a moment. Then it hit him. "The scale!" he exclaimed. "Before she left you on the beach, Sakura-chan ripped off one of her scales from her tail and placed it in your pocket. It was green in color; almost the same shade as Sakura-chan's hair pin," he said.

It was then that Sasuke believed Naruto's words. He told no one about that scale, no one could know about it… except the one who gave it to him. Subsequently at that moment a memory flashed before him.

_A dark sky…vicious waves…emerald eyes… a soft voice… _"_It's going to be alright, Sasuke-kun…I'll keep you safe._"

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "It was you…I've made a horrible mistake," he said as she brought her eyes to look at his.

"You sure as hell did!" Naruto yelled.

"I will probably never be able to apologize enough for the emotional turmoil I've put you through, Sakura. But I know a way to try and make it up."

Both Sakura and Naruto looked at him in surprise.

"I'm going to call off the wedding… I know now who should truly be my wife." With that said he took stepped towards her and brought her into an embrace. "I'm not marrying you because I would be saving your life or because you are the woman who saved me…It's because I think I'm in love with you," he said softly into her ear.

Sakura smiled and returned his embrace. Hours ago, she truly believed that she was going to die...that she would never be able to talk with Naruto or her family again…that Orochimaru was going to win.

Naruto smiled up at the two. "I'll see you later, Sakura-chan! I've got to let everyone know!" and before Sakura could spare a glance in his direction, he was already gone.

Sasuke receded from the shared embrace. He brought his hand up to wipe away the tears that stained her cheeks with his thumb. "I never meant to put you through so much pain, I hope this can compensate for it all," he apologized.

Sakura shook her head and smiled at him. '_It's alright now,_' she thought. '_I can be by your side now forever; that's all I ever wanted since I first saw you._' She pushed all her previous doubts out of her mind and focused on what her destiny held for her now. She hoped it would be happy from now on.

_End_

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**Author's Notes**: Sorry for the BIG lag in an update. I had trouble deciding how to end this story. I'm sorry if this chapter isn't what many people expected. The ending probably would have been better if I stuck true to the stories ending, but I wanted to have my own ending for it. Besides, many people didn't want a sad ending, so here's the cheesy ending xD.

Thanks for all the reviews throughout the entire story, I enjoyed them greatly. I intend to start a new story soon; hopefully an ItaxSaku paring. So keep a look out:)


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